Descartes Underwriting

Founded by a team of insurance veterans and climate scientists, Descartes Underwriting operates at a global scale, offering insurance against climate, cyber and other emerging risks.

A new generation of parametric solutions

At Descartes, we are fully dedicated to creating climate and emerging risks' insurance solutions: fully transparent, customized to clients’ needs and providing swift claims payment thanks to parametric technology.

Descartes’ innovative edge stems from our ability to integrate new data sources, including IoT, satellite imagery, stationary sensors, radar and third party data, and apply proprietary algorithms to unlock risk insights.

satellite monitoring catastrophic events
Aerial view of a ocean

Our founding story

Descartes Underwriting was born out of the conviction that climate change calls for a revolutionary approach in insurance. While natural catastrophes and extreme weather events are drastically increasing in terms of severity and frequency, traditional insurance players struggle to provide sufficient protection - some are even forced to withdraw from highly exposed regions due to massive climate-related losses.

Technological disruptions offer unprecedented opportunities to bridge the gap: Descartes leverages Artificial Intelligence (machine learning, computer vision) and innovative sources of data from real-time monitoring  (satellite imagery, IoT) to model underlying phenomena and unlock risk insights. Our data-driven approach enables us to identify trends and to measure their impacts on clients’ assets, hence pushing the boundaries of insurability further.

Beyond climate risks, we now apply our technological expertise to emerging risks: we continuously work to answer the evolving needs of our clients.

Our global offices

  • Charlotte
    Charlotte
  • Chicago
    Chicago
  • denver
    Denver
  • Little Rock
    Little Rock
  • Los Angeles
    Los Angeles
  • New York
    New York
  • Scottsdale Arizona
    Scottsdale
  • Richmond Virginia
    Richmond
  • Mexico
    Mexico
  • Frankfurt
    Frankfurt
  • London
    London
  • Madrid
    Madrid
  • Paris
    Paris
  • Hong Kong
    Hong Kong
  • Singapore
    Singapore
  • sydney
    Sydney
  • Tokyo
    Tokyo

Get in touch

Meet our Team

With a team of over 200 employees, Descartes has an international, diverse and multidisciplinary team, growing rapidly across our global offices.

FoundersBusiness Development team

Tanguy Touffut

Tanguy Touffut

Co-Founder & CEO

Sébastien Piguet

Sébastien Piguet

Co-Founder & Chief Insurance Officer

Kevin Dedieu

Kevin Dedieu

Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer

Daniel Vetter

Daniel Vetter

Head of the Americas (New York)

Ben Yue Qin

Ben Yue Qin

Head of North-East Asia (Sydney)

Robert Drysdale

Robert Drysdale

Head of South-East Asia (Singapore)

Ike Shimada

Ike Shimada

Head of Japan (Tokyo)

Wenqiao Li

Wenqiao Li

Business Development Director Greater China (Hong Kong)

Lynn Roehrig

Lynn Roehrig

Head of Business Development, Australia and New Zealand (Sydney)

Matthew James

Matthew James

Commercial Director UK and Ireland (London)

Mario Tucholke

Mario Tucholke

Commercial Director DACH (Frankfurt)

Juan Ma Domenech

Juan-Maria Domenech

Commercial Director Iberia (Madrid)

Raul Revilla

Raul Revilla

Commercial Director Latin America (Madrid)

Meryl Bermond

Meryl Bermond

Business Development Manager (Paris)

Hewan Thomas

Hewan Thomas

Cyber Business Development Manager (Paris)

Guillaume Garin

Guillaume Garin

Business Developement Manager Agriculture (Paris)

Brian Thompson

Brian Thompson

Senior VP, Business Development Manager (Little Rock)

Tiffany Kinne

Tiffany Kinne

Senior VP, Business Development Manager (Los Angeles)

David Stamatis

David Stamatis

VP, Business Development (Denver)

Will McMillan

Will McMillan

VP, Business Development (New York)

Alec Davidson

Alec Davidson

Assistant VP, Business Development (Scottsdale)

Robert Rittenhouse

Robert Rittenhouse

Assistant VP, Business Development (Richmond)

Austin Roberts

Austin Roberts

Assistant VP, Business Development (Charlotte)

Marshall Crane

Marshall Crane

Assistant VP, Business Development (Chicago)

Francisco Javier Herrera Escalante

Country Manager - Mexico

Descartes in numbers

$75M

capacity per parametric policy. Up to $200M in some cases

20+

natural perils covered across all continents

200+

employees

17

global offices across 10 countries

400+

corporate & public entity clients