Google Cloud support enhances CAPE risk analytics

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An Alphabet Inc. Google X Project Wing delivery drone flies during a demonstration in Blacksburg, Virginia. Aerial photography is one source of data for property intelligence used by insurers.
Charles Mostoller/Bloomberg

AI geospatial property intelligence provider CAPE Analytics, in its partnership with Google Cloud, expects to enhance its predictive risk management analytics for insurance carriers.

"With Google Cloud's machine learning technology, CAPE will be able to use its own data to provide insurance carriers an enhanced view of risk," wrote Zac Maufe, managing director, global financial services solutions, Google Cloud, in a response to questions.

CAPE Analytics currently analyzes 140 million built structures throughout the U.S. and Canada, producing over 70 property insights for clients, according to Ian Boneysteele, senior director of partnerships strategy and corporate development, CAPE Analytics. This accounts for trillions of dollars worth of property, and the data is refreshed every three to six months, Boneysteele added.

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Ian Boneysteele, senior director of partnerships strategy and corporate development, CAPE Analytics.

"As part of the mission, one of the things we look out for is technology partners that we can work with to further develop and broaden the scope of the insights," he said. "Google Cloud is a major and strategic partner that we identified in this space that can help us develop as well as extend our reach with these insights to insurance carriers."

Google will apply its own geospatial analysis as part of the partnership. CAPE Analytics specializes in analyzing the risk of weather events, such as wildfires. 

"We developed through our wildfire intelligence platform a variety of different attributes that help carriers understand, as well as mitigate risk to their portfolio," said Boneysteele. "Google Cloud AI capabilities will help us to further develop and broaden some of these solutions that we're providing. We're really excited to work with a broad array of geospatial capabilities that they have."

Most of the CAPE Analytics platform will migrate to Google Cloud, according to Maufe. "Google Cloud will provide cloud infrastructure as well as data and machine learning technology to CAPE Analytics to help them develop and serve property analytics at scale to the insurance industry," he wrote. "CAPE's own data underpins all of the analytics on its platform."

CAPE's Boneysteele expects that the partnership will lead to development of more products. "From a product as well as a go-to-market perspective, there's a lot of opportunity here," he said.

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