Sompo International Holdings Limited, a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, stated today that it has entered into a long-term partnership with Flock, a UK based insurtech that offers data-driven insurance solutions to commercial drone operators. This partnership envisions the future of unmanned aviation by increasing the accessibility of critical insurance needed for emerging use-cases, like flying taxi passenger flights, drone cargo deliveries, and drone swarm shows.
By merging Sompo International’s deep aviation and aerospace insurance supporting experience with Flock’s real-time risk algorithms, this partnership heralds a novel era of insurance built for a progressively autonomous and connected world. Flock’s range of market-leading products in the drone industry already safeguard thousands of pilots across the UK and Europe and the company is also exploring how its proprietary technology could be used to reinvent insurance for other specialty lines. Sompo International will encourage Flock’s aggressive growth strategy with the two companies working together to make it easier for complex projects to access flexible, fair and transparent policies.
Mr. Julian James, CEO, International Insurance, Sompo International said, “At this time of significant change across the business landscape, insurers, brokers and disruptors need to work together to develop innovative responses to a raft of emerging and evolving risks. Drones have multiple applications and are set to transform a range of industries from e-commerce to risk management and crisis response. The sheer breadth of applications means the global commercial drone market is expected to be worth in excess of US$40 billion by 2025. Flock is a market leader in this sector with tremendous potential; it has a proven business model utilising a transferable and scalable technology that has already delivered unique products and an impressive growth story.”
Mr. Ed Leon Klinger, CEO of Flock, said: “By combining Flock’s data-driven approach to risk with Sompo International’s significant expertise and established global distribution networks, this partnership marks an important milestone in the evolution of drone insurance globally. Vehicles are increasingly connected, autonomous, and powered by real-time data. At Flock, we’re building insurance products to accommodate for this new world and so it was vital to partner with an underwriter that shares our ambitious vision.”
Mr. Andrew Metcalfe, Sompo International’s Senior Vice President, London Market Aerospace Insurance said: “The increasing use of automation will be a key factor in the development of transportation in the future. Flock’s technology platform has the ability to deliver significant benefits, including the real-time use of data to provide insight into developing efficient operations and enhanced safety management systems, increasing the operational footprint of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.”