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A location intelligence provider and risk management platform have joined forces to protect Australian homes from natural disasters.
Nearmap, an Australian location intelligence and aerial imagery firm, has signed paperwork to acquire Betterview, an AI-powered property intelligence and risk management solution.
Describing itself as the solution “the insurance industry depends on”, Betterview has a history of helping insurance providers to predict and prevent risk by providing them with up-to-date geospatial data.
It applies artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision to aerial imagery and geospatial data in order to generate accurate property information, which insurers can then use to automate pricing, underwriting and renewals.
Founded in Perth in 2007, Nearmap uses camera systems and processing software to capture large urban areas in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US several times a year. Users can conduct virtual site visits to a range of locations across these four countries.
Now, Nearmap and Betterview plan to pool resources to amplify their impact, bringing together their historical archives for change analysis, post-catastrophe imagery, and AI capabilities.
Andy Watt, CEO of Nearmap, said that the acquisition is more important than ever in the midst of the climate crisis.
“With Australia increasingly susceptible to natural disasters like bushfires and floods, our insurance landscape is more complex than ever,” Mr Watt said.
With Nearmap’s acquisition of Betterview, Mr Watt stated that “insurers will be able to deliver more personalised, efficient service to policyholders by empowering their teams with deep-tech disaster intelligence to stay ahead of the curve”.
Betterview CEO David Lyman stated that the acquisition will “increase access to premium imagery and cutting-edge, scalable property intelligence solutions for the insurance industry”.
The two firms also claim that the merger will lead to more efficient development of insurance solutions, faster and more accurate mitigation of risk, enhanced visualisation, and deeper analytics.
In fact, Mr Watt expressed a belief that the Nearmap acquisition of Betterview would be “transformative for the industry”.
“Integrating the Betterview platform and AI solutions into the Nearmap technology stack will enable better visualisation of the truth on the ground with a richer, more powerful set of AI capabilities that combine the best of both companies,” stated Mr Watt.
“This is a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to innovate solutions for insurance carriers and expand our presence within the property and casualty space.”
Nearmap concluded that the acquisition will align with their “long-term global vision to be the source of truth that shapes our liveable world”.
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