Nov 29, 2021

Kettle Raises $25 Million Series A Led by Acrew Capital with participation from Homebrew, True Ventures, Anthemis, Valor, DCVC, and LowerCarbon Capital Kettle , the reinsurance startup that uses advanced deep learning to better protect people from the growing risks associated with climate change, such as California’s wildfires, today announced it has been reinsuring homes during the 2021 wildfire season and that it raised a Series A financing round. The $25 million round was led by Acrew Capital, with participation from Homebrew, True Ventures, Anthemis, Valor, DCVC, and LowerCarbon Capital. Kettle is bringing advanced technology to the $400 billion-a-year reinsurance industry, starting with California wildfires. The industry has seen a 68 percent drop in return on equity due to a 3X increase in catastrophes causing more than $1 billion in damage over the past 15 years according to NOAA. In 2021 we saw the Dixie and Caldor Fires in California burn over 700,000 acres and destroy over 1200 structures based on Calfire’s data. Founded by Andrew Engler and Nathaniel Manning, Kettle is structured as a reinsurance Managing General Agent that can underwrite these increasing risks. Kettle is also setting up their own risk-bearing entity. Kettle’s Engler has more than a decade of experience working in the insurance and reinsurance industries, most recently as the vice president of digital at the public insurer/reinsurer, Argo Group. Manning spent years working with data for humanitarian efforts as the CEO of Ushahidi, the largest open source software platform for community crisis response, and as the first chief data officer of USAID. “We are thrilled to be helping provide insight and relief to the California insurance market,” said Manning. “There are 14 million structures in California, and in 2020 ~11,500 of them burned down, less than .1%. While the risks of wildfire have certainly increased over the past decade, the key is understanding exactly where the risk is. If we can do that, we can bring stability back to the California insurance market.”