W.R. Berkley Corp. is among the investors behind a new $10 million financing round for Tremor, a startup developing a reinsurance “smart” market platform.

The Boston-based startup said that several new, unnamed strategic investors also participated in the round, along with existing investors Nephila Capital, Markel Corp. and lead investor Anthemis Group. Tremor said it plans to use the cash infusion to fuel further development of its “programmatic insurance and reinsurance risk transfer marketplace,” with additions planned including enhanced quoting and management capabilities. The company will also accelerate hiring efforts.

Robert Berkley Jr., president and chief executive officer, W.R. Berkley Corporation, said that the company became an investor/shareholder after testing the system extensively.

“We chose to place our main property catastrophe program with Tremor last year, after over 18 months of technical due diligence, because we believed its platform had the potential to bring important efficiencies and capabilities to the placement process,” Berkley said in prepared remarks. “We became a shareholder in Tremor because our use of the platform validated that early hypothesis, and we are enthusiastic about the potential positive impact Tremor’s technology can have on the insurance business.”

Tremor said it has completed six reinsurance placements to date with quotes totaling over $1 billion and lines bound of nearly $500 million from more than 70 reinsurers, ILS funds and Lloyd’s Syndicates. Tremor claims its marketplace has facilitated quotes and placed capacity for several property catastrophe treaties, retrocessional placements and industry loss warranty (ILW) transactions across a range of ceding companies. As well, the company is planning its first facultative transactions later this year.

“We have been laser focused on adding value to a specific part of the risk transfer value chain and making programmatic transactions happen. It is paying off,” Sean Bourgeois, Tremor’s founder and CEO, said in prepared remarks.

In addition to transactions completed, Tremor said it has commitments from reinsurance participants to execute 2020 renewals on the platform. The company also claims marketplace adoption of its technology has grown substantially this year.

Tremor, which launched its platform in 2018, bills the product as a smart market designed to establish fair and efficient market prices for reinsurance risks and programs, resulting in more efficient price formation for insurers, reinsurers and intermediaries.

Source: Tremor