Kettle, a US-based insurtech and managing general agent (MGA) that uses AI and deep learning to underwrite climate catastrophe risk, especially wildfires and increasingly hurricanes, has formed a strategic partnership with RLI Corp. to launch a multi-peril commercial property product that includes dedicated wildfire coverage.
The non-admitted policy provides protection against wildfire and all other perils. Initial underwriting will concentrate on commercial property risks in California and Nevada, two states where wildfire exposure has constrained admitted market capacity.
Distribution will run through a select panel of wholesale brokers.
Policies will be underwritten by Mt. Hawley Insurance Company, an RLI subsidiary carrying an A+ (Superior) financial strength rating from AM Best.
Commercial property owners in wildfire-prone regions have faced shrinking capacity and higher catastrophe losses.
According to Beinsure analysts, non-admitted carriers and specialty programs increasingly fill gaps left by admitted market retrenchment.
Kettle’s differentiation is its deep-learning risk engine. The platform ingests large-scale satellite imagery, weather, real-estate, and utility data – billions of records and hundreds of millions of images – to predict ignition, spread, and building vulnerability.
The company reports very high accuracy in identifying properties most likely to burn, substantially outperforming traditional catastrophe models in internal and third-party benchmarks.
Kettle Chief Executive Officer Isaac Espinoza said the program combines the company’s AI-driven catastrophe modeling with RLI’s underwriting expertise and balance sheet support. The goal is to deliver disciplined wildfire pricing rather than opportunistic capacity.
RLI will also make a strategic equity investment in Kettle. The capital will support further development of underwriting models and catastrophe analytics.
Chief Operating Officer Jen Klobnak said Kettle’s proprietary wildfire risk modeling complements RLI’s commercial property portfolio and supports expansion into underserved segments.
She described the agreement and equity stake as part of a shared strategy to provide sustainable coverage in high-risk western markets.
The partnership reflects a broader shift in property insurance, where AI-based risk assessment tools pair with established carrier capital to manage climate-driven volatility more precisely.
