On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Jeff Williams, Managing Director for Kayrros USA, a technology-focused earth observation analytics company using unconventional geospatial data to bring new insights to the world’s biggest industries, including energy, commodity and insurance

Jeff has an incredible background in top 5 consultancy as well as M&A in the energy sector which he uses every day as he deep dives into the challenge created by methane on its impact on environmental change.

During the course of our conversation, the pair discuss: Kayrros as a series C scaleup focused on delivering solutions using unconventional geospatial data, Kayrros - Off the shelf… still, white box data analytics and scoring mechanisms to meet the need of today’s underwriters and regulators, and Kayrros as The long-term geospatial partner for the insurance sector looking at solving wildfire and other connected catastrophic events.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I got my start, like many Texans who want to get into technology, I started working for a large consulting company at the tip of the spear of energy tech. There I started working with large energy companies on data and I realised that all their data is spatial-related. They have assets all over the country, a sensor network that they weren’t leveraging, but more importantly, we were solving problems that were facing challenges of where to go and where not to go. I then started working with geospatial startups and realised there’s a robust amount of data out there that companies aren’t leveraging correctly. Six months ago I started working at Kayrros where they’ve made a real profit within the commodities and energy network. I fundamentally believe I can use that foundation that they built to work with the insurance industry and build off that foundation from the commodities and energy industry.
• We’ve built our insights to include asset monitoring for energy companies to detect climate data – tracking emissions. We’ve evolved from just an insights company to a climate data company. We see the cause of methane emissions, now we want to start tracking the effects which include wildfires and floods, and the industries that are really going to be affected by those issues are insurance and banking, which is why we’re really starting to focus on those as the next industries to work with.
• We track pre-risk, we have a risk score, and we’re using several different geospatial datasets – weather, landslide risk. We also track live monitoring, using satellite data to track live fires with very quick updates that we can give to our clients. Also, post-fire, we give a damage assessment. What we’re focussing on is not one specific thing, we’re affecting several parts of the insurance company, whether it’s underwriting, customer communication, claims.
• A challenge that we see with geospatial data is there has been insufficient refresh, really bad granularity, and a lack of transparency. The lack of transparency is something that’s really hurt the geospatial industry over the past couple of years. We don’t view ourselves as a black box, our potential customers just get handed a solution by other companies. What we want to do is work with our customers and provide a white box solution where they know exactly what all the data inputs are and we do that with them.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Companies like Kayrros really want insights and geospatial data really provides those insights for them.’
‘Kayrros got its name using satellite data to detect global crude tank levels, we used radar to detect how much crude oil was in tanks.’
‘Track climate data by using satellites, drones, AI, cell phone data.’
‘We’re fighting geospatial fatigue in the insurance industry. We’re doing that by positioning Kayrros to be a geospatial partner, not a vendor.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Jeff Williams is the Managing Director of Sales & Business Development for Kayrros, where he is responsible for driving the Kayrros North American growth strategy.

Kayrros is a technology-focused earth observation analytics firm using unconventional data to bring new insights to the world’s biggest industries. By harnessing the power of satellite imagery, natural language processing, machine learning and advanced mathematics, we deliver actionable intelligence on virtually any asset across the globe, in near real-time, for better decision-making

His roots run deep in Houston, as demonstrated by his love for the Astros. Last but not least, his greatest accomplishment is his family, which includes his wife and two kids, Lucy and Jake Williams.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreydwilliams/

About Kayrros:

We are a technology-focused earth observation analytics firm using unconventional data to bring new insights to the world’s biggest industries. By harnessing the power of satellite imagery, natural language processing, machine learning and advanced mathematics, we deliver actionable intelligence on virtually any asset across the globe, in near real-time, for better decision-making.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kayrros/

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, and commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers and accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.

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