ZestyAI is on a mission to help insure the uninsurable. In 2024, ZestyAI helped insurers of last resort extend coverage to over 510,000 properties, and in 2025 ZestyAI is looking to double that. As a data integration partner within Cogitate’s ecosystem, ZestyAI’s hazard data supports the new Colorado FAIR Plan, launched in the spring of 2025 on DigitalEdge Insurance Platform. To learn more about what drives ZestyAI’s mission, we posed a series of questions to Kumar Dhuvur, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at ZestyAI, and are thrilled to share his responses.
Historically, what has driven so many properties to be deemed uninsurable—and how is that changing?
Historically, many properties were deemed uninsurable because underwriting relied on blunt instruments: static fire maps and catastrophe models built on broad territory-level assumptions. These tools simulate hypothetical events across generalized hazard zones, but they don’t reflect actual conditions on the ground. They can overestimate risk for entire neighborhoods while missing high-risk pockets—and they rarely account for mitigation efforts like defensible space, home hardening, or community Firewise programs.
That’s changing with the rise of property-level, AI-driven risk models. Instead of relying on static maps or hardcoded assumptions, these models are trained on decades of actual loss data, aerial imagery, and weather history. They identify the true drivers of damage—from roof materials and topography to vegetation management and community mitigation—and update as conditions change.
This shift from assumption-driven to evidence-based, mitigation-aware risk assessment allows insurers to segment risk with precision, price fairly, and restore coverage to properties once deemed uninsurable. In 2024, this approach helped bring coverage back to more than half a million families and businesses in high-risk areas—proof that granular, transparent models can expand access to sustainable insurance without compromising portfolio health.
ZestyAI is now integrated into DigitalEdge Policy to support the Colorado FAIR Plan. How does Z-FIRE improve wildfire risk assessment for properties compared to traditional methods?
Wildfire exposure in Colorado has traditionally been assessed using broad hazard zones or regional averages, methods that can misclassify entire neighborhoods and leave homeowners with limited options for coverage. The Colorado FAIR Plan serves as a safety net for those unable to secure insurance elsewhere, but legacy tools often lacked the precision to distinguish between truly high-risk properties and those with strong protective features.
Z-FIRE changes that by delivering a property-specific view of wildfire risk. Trained on decades of actual wildfire loss data, the model evaluates both the likelihood that a property will be involved in a wildfire and the likelihood it will be damaged if it is. It draws on high-resolution aerial imagery, vegetation mapping, topography, building materials, and defensible space conditions, providing a far more nuanced and actionable assessment than territory-level approaches.
For Colorado FAIR Plan policyholders, this means premiums can be better aligned with actual risk, and homeowners receive clear mitigation guidance. Those who make improvements, such as clearing vegetation or upgrading roofing, will see that reflected in their property’s score, in some cases enabling reentry into the standard insurance market. By integrating Z-FIRE (alongside Z-HAIL and Z-WIND) into DigitalEdge Policy, the Colorado FAIR Plan is expanding coverage for thousands of families while supporting a more sustainable insurance access market.
ZestyAI’s platform not only delivers property-specific mitigation guidance to homeowners but also captures those improvements within its risk models. How does this data flow into the underwriting process to influence insurability decisions and help reduce potential losses post-policy issuance?
ZestyAI’s platform enables insurers to have proactive conversations with policyholders about the specific mitigation actions that provide the greatest value at a given property. With built-in “what-if” scenario analysis, carriers can show homeowners how improvements—like clearing vegetation or upgrading a roof—would change their individual risk profile. When a homeowner addresses those issues, whether by creating defensible space or upgrading a roof, the improvements can be verified through updated aerial imagery, building permits, or other trusted data sources. That information flows back into the model, enabling carriers to recalculate the risk score in real time.
This ensures mitigation efforts have a tangible, measurable effect on underwriting. Underwriters gain an up-to-date, evidence-based view of the property, not just conditions at the initial inspection, supporting risk-aligned pricing, improved insurability, and stronger alignment between prevention and risk-based premiums. For programs like the Colorado FAIR Plan, this also advances regulatory priorities around transparency, customer engagement, and incentives for ongoing risk reduction.
ZestyAI’s wildfire model is approved in all major Western states. Can you talk about how regulatory alignment factors into your broader mission?
Regulatory alignment has been central to our mission from day one. For any model to matter in insurance, it has to be both market-proven and regulatory-ready. That’s why we design every ZestyAI model with compliance in mind—strict data standards, bias testing, and full transparency—so that regulators and insurers alike can trust the results.
That philosophy led Z-FIRE to become the first AI-powered wildfire risk model approved for use as part of a carrier rate filing in California, the most complex regulatory environment in the country. Since then, our models across wildfire, hail, wind, and non-weather water have been approved in more than 70 rate filings nationwide, and they’re in production with top 20 carriers as well as regional insurers.
Beyond our product design, we provide end-to-end regulatory support—ASOP-compliant filing packets, templates for rate and dislocation analysis, and state-specific DOI responses. That means less friction in the approval process and faster time to market.
At the end of the day, regulatory alignment is how we connect innovation with impact. By earning trust in both boardrooms and DOI offices, we help carriers move quickly and confidently, and ultimately deliver fair, sustainable coverage to policyholders.
Let’s talk about workflow. How does embedding ZestyAI’s models into the DigitalEdge Policy platform improve the experience for underwriters?
Embedding ZestyAI into DigitalEdge Policy helps carriers streamline risk decisions without sacrificing rigor:
Whether for FAIR Plans or national carriers, the result is faster, fairer, and more informed underwriting decisions that scale.
We invite you to read about Colorado FAIR Plan’s launch here.
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