Understory Inc., a Madison tech company that analyzes and processes weather data using sensors, has received a top honor from a global market intelligence company.
From a pool of 1,750 nominations from 15 different countries, Understory was awarded AgTech Insurance Solution of the Year by AgTech Breakthrough, which is part of Los Angeles-based Tech Breakthrough. The awards recognize innovative achievements in farm management, indoor farming, automation, internet of things and robotics, food quality, and data analytics.
Understory was recognized for its parametric hail insurance product for agricultural insurance. More than 4,600 destructive hailstorms hit the United States in 2018, resulting in more than $8 billion of damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"As severe weather risk increases, many farmers in some of the most vulnerable parts of the world can no longer find coverage," said Darcy Pawlik, Understory's vice president of global product and agriculture. "The policies that remain are often unaffordable, even with heavy government subsidies, and require lengthy, burdensome claims processes. Our technology is delivering a step change in agricultural insurance and closing the protection gap."
The technology allows the company to associate each weather event with the resulting crop damage. When severe weather strikes and triggers the parametric insurance policy, Understory detects it and triggers a payout automatically.
"Understory's one-of-a-kind solution is bringing about a paradigm shift in the crop insurance industry," said Bryan Vaughn, managing director of AgTech Breakthrough Awards, in a statement. "The company's data-driven solution is helping protect the world's food supply as growers are increasingly impacted by extreme weather conditions caused by global climate change."
In November 2019, Understory launched a parametric data-driven hail insurance product for auto dealers, where its weather sensors automatically detect if a hailstorm has impacted a dealership, and the policy processes payouts to the dealership in less than two weeks.
An alum of Wisconsin-based startup gener8tor, Understory started in 2012 and has raised close to $30 million in investments from private investors. Its backers include Revolution’s Rise of the Rest fund, Madison's 4490 Ventures, Future Shape and True Ventures.
