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Insurtech Stand has raised $70 mn in Series C financing at a $1 bn valuation, as it expands its property insurance business focused on homes exposed to natural catastrophes.
The funding round was led by Saga Ventures, with participation from Lowercarbon, Eclipse, Equal Ventures, Inspired Capital, Neotribe, Jackson Square Ventures and other investors.
- Stand secured $70 mn in Series C funding led by Saga Ventures, with participation from Lowercarbon, Eclipse, Equal Ventures, Inspired Capital, Neotribe and Jackson Square Ventures.
- The insurtech now insures more than $10 bn in property, compared with $1 bn a year earlier, using catastrophe simulations and property resilience measures to support underwriting.
- Stand appointed former PURE Insurance executive Drew Saad as president of property and casualty and former Nephila executive Tony Landi as CFO to oversee insurance operations, reinsurance and capital strategy.
Stand now insures more than $10 bn worth of property, up from $1 bn a year earlier, representing a tenfold increase in the value of assets covered.
The company uses catastrophe modeling to assess individual properties, identify improvements that could reduce physical damage and adjust insurance pricing to reflect those measures. It offers premium discounts of up to 70% for qualifying homes.
Stand targets rising catastrophe insurance costs
Stand is expanding as homeowners in catastrophe-prone regions face higher insurance premiums, stricter underwriting requirements and difficulty renewing coverage.
According to the company, the United States now experiences a weather disaster causing at least $1 bn in damage approximately every 10 days.
Traditional property insurance pricing relies heavily on historical claims and catastrophe data. Stand’s approach incorporates simulations of how individual buildings are expected to perform during wildfires, severe winds and other natural disasters.
The company argues that identifying and reducing physical vulnerabilities can support more predictable underwriting and lower insurance costs over time.
“Disasters follow the laws of physics, and insurance should too,” said Dan Preston, co-founder and CEO of Stand. “If your home is resilient, you should be rewarded with a low premium and never have to worry about losing your coverage. We want to insure every resilient property in the world, and help make every property safe.”
Catastrophe simulations support property underwriting
Stand’s underwriting technology is built around its World Model, which creates digital representations of individual homes and simulates their performance under different catastrophe scenarios.
The system incorporates building construction, surrounding environmental conditions and weather exposure to identify potential sources of damage.
Rather than relying exclusively on historical loss patterns, the model assesses how specific property characteristics influence vulnerability to events such as wildfire and severe wind.
Stand uses those assessments to recommend improvements intended to reduce expected losses while preserving a property’s architectural characteristics.
The company also assists homeowners with implementing recommended measures, providing guidance, connecting customers with service providers and verifying completed improvements. Once the work is completed, Stand incorporates the property’s improved resilience into its insurance assessment.
Qualifying homeowners can receive premium discounts of up to 70%, reflecting the company’s estimate of reduced catastrophe exposure.
Stand also aims to provide more stable long-term pricing and coverage for properties that meet its resilience standards. Actual pricing benefits depend on the assessed risk and improvements completed.
Stand appoints former PURE Insurance underwriting chief
Alongside the financing announcement, Stand appointed Drew Saad as president of property and casualty. Saad previously served as chief underwriting officer at PURE Insurance, which specializes in coverage for high-net-worth individuals and households.
He will be responsible for expanding Stand’s insurance operations as the company increases its insured property portfolio and enters additional markets.
The companies that reshape a market for decades are the ones that identify a fundamentally better way to understand risk, and Stand has done that for the homes exposed to natural disasters.
“With the science already in place, the opportunity now is to build an insurance operation that matches it and scales it to every market that needs it. That is the work I have spent my career preparing for, and it is why I joined Stand.”
Former Nephila executive to lead reinsurance and capital strategy
Stand also appointed Tony Landi as chief financial officer, bringing experience in catastrophe reinsurance, capital management and insurance portfolio construction.
Landi most recently served as head of strategic growth at Nephila, a major investment manager specializing in catastrophe reinsurance.
Before joining Nephila, he was head of reinsurance and capital management at Openly and head of portfolio management at Everest Re.
At Stand, Landi will oversee finance, reinsurance, capital markets and growth strategy. His responsibilities include securing capital to support the company’s expanding insurance portfolio and developing reinsurance arrangements aligned with its underwriting exposure.
What drew me to Stand is the depth of the team, with real experts in physics, underwriting, and product working on the same problem.
“My job is to make sure that as Stand grows, the capital is there to support it, from our investors and our reinsurance partners alike. We’ll do that by building diversified, resilient portfolios and matching risk and returns to capital appetite.”
Stand’s latest funding and executive appointments follow a tenfold increase in insured property value over the past year. The company is seeking to expand its catastrophe-focused underwriting model while securing the insurance and reinsurance capacity needed to support additional properties.
