Descartes Underwriting
Paris-headquartered parametric MGA and underwriting-tech group writing climate, natural-catastrophe, cyber, and emerging-risk policies on behalf of tier-one carriers, with index-based payouts designed to settle within weeks.
descartesunderwriting.com ↗Score
- Traction (named carrier deployments)2 carrier deployment(s) with public source.
- 1/5
- Maturity (years since founding)8 years since founding (2018).
- 3/5
- Coverage (insurance lines supported)3 line(s) supported: commercial, specialty, reinsurance.
- 3/5
- Analyst recognition (Celent / Gartner / Forrester / Everest / ISG)3 mention(s).
- 2/5
What it does
Descartes Underwriting is a parametric managing general agent founded in Paris in 2018 by Tanguy Touffut, Sébastien Piguet, and Kevin Dedieu — the first two coming directly out of AXA Global Parametrics. The MGA writes on behalf of tier-one carriers; a separate entity, Descartes Insurance, is a French ACPR-regulated full-stack carrier launched after the 2022 Series B.
Business footprint. Total disclosed funding is approximately $141M across four rounds: an $18.5M Series A in 2020 (Serena, Cathay Innovation, BlackFin), a $120M Series B led by Highland Europe with Eurazeo in January 2022, and a strategic investment by Battery Ventures in June 2025 at a premium to the Series B valuation. Marcus Ryu, former CEO of Guidewire, joined the board as observer at that round. Descartes reports operating in more than 60 countries from 19 offices with 230 professionals, and over $200M in 2024 gross written premium.
Carrier relationships. The one carrier partnership that is both publicly named and multi-year is Generali Global Corporate & Commercial, announced in 2020 and strengthened in 2025 through the launch of the Lumyna–Twelve Capital Parametric ILS Fund, for which Descartes and Generali are the named origination partners. Beyond Generali, capacity is described only as "tier-one A-rated (re)insurers" without public names.
What it replaces. Not a policy admin or pricing engine that slots into a carrier stack. Descartes is an alternative product — parametric, index-triggered climate and cyber cover — sold to corporates and public entities through brokers, with payouts structured to settle in weeks rather than the months typical of indemnity nat-cat claims.
Analyst gap. No major Gartner / Celent / Forrester leader placement surfaces in public indexing for 2023-2025. The coverage that exists is reinsurance and insurtech trade press — Artemis, Reinsurance News, The Insurer, Insurance Journal.
What it does not do. Descartes does not sell licensable software to US carriers. Engaging Descartes is a capacity and product-design relationship, like engaging Shepherd in cyber — the AI and the balance sheet come together. Basis risk is inherent to the parametric form and is not solved by the modelling layer, only made more transparent.
Named deployments
Known limitations
- Descartes is a risk-bearing MGA plus a French-regulated full-stack carrier (Descartes Insurance, licensed by ACPR), not a software product a US carrier can license. Engaging Descartes means buying parametric capacity or co-originating product, not deploying a tool inside an existing underwriting workstation. (Descartes Underwriting)
- Public case studies on Descartes' own site reference clients only by industry and geography ('a Florida Resort', 'a Texas Construction Company', 'a Malaysian Agribusiness') — individual corporate insureds are not named. The only publicly named counterparty at the carrier tier is Generali. (Descartes Underwriting)
- Parametric coverage pays on an index trigger — wind speed, rainfall, earthquake shake intensity — not on measured loss. Basis risk (the gap between the index payout and the actual loss) is a structural feature of the product and is not eliminated by the AI component. (Descartes Underwriting)
- No Gartner, Celent, Forrester, or Novarica leader-quadrant placement surfaces in public indexing for 2023-2025. Coverage is concentrated in reinsurance and insurtech trade press (Artemis, Reinsurance News, The Insurer, Insurance Journal). (Artemis)