85% of U.S. homes are not insured against flood, offering a massive market opportunity
Intermap's patent-pending solution and data quality provide a unique advantage
DENVER, Jan. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Intermap Technologies (TSX: IMP) (OTCQX: ITMSF) ("Intermap" or the "Company"), a global leader in geospatial content development and intelligence solutions, today announced that a top-5 U.S. insurer has licensed InsitePro®, Intermap's SaaS flood risk assessment product, to build a comprehensive, accurate flood rating system for the United States. This represents an expansion of an existing client relationship into a large new market where Intermap has a unique advantage and should generate rapid growth. It also represents an expansion of InsitePro's functionality beyond risk selection and into pricing, expanding its available market. InsitePro delivers precise property-specific flood risk assessment empowering insurers to charge the right amount of premium for every individual property in the country.
Rating, or pricing, flood risk requires the highest possible quality geospatial data and analytics because flood risk varies significantly from building to building. Historically, insurers have only been able to define generalized flood pricing by neighborhood or zip code because the underlying data has not been accurate enough. InsitePro, with its unique proprietary elevation data and patent-pending approach to rating, enables insurers to define the specific amount of premium they should charge for every property. Intermap currently has dozens of insurance company subscribers using InsitePro to analyze and score flood risk. This new product extends Intermap's capability to help a major insurance underwriter accurately price their flood premiums.
Less than 15% of U.S. properties are insured against flood loss as a result of the lingering inability of insurers to accurately price the coverage, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) underwriting most of that risk through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Every year in the U.S., tens of thousands of homes and businesses without flood insurance are flooded, leading to staggering losses. This also costs taxpayers, creating a burden on FEMA as it assists flood victims, whether insured or uninsured, with support and compensation.
InsitePro's ability to rate flood risk unlocks over $5 billion of unwritten premium for the 85% of U.S. properties without flood coverage (Source iii and U.S. Census). The U.S. private flood market, which excludes the NFIP, has grown at a CAGR of 20% since 2016, and that growth can accelerate if the country's 2,500 admitted insurers target the unwritten premium.
"Intermap's U.S. insurance business continues grow as the flood insurance market grows," said Patrick A. Blott, Intermap Chairman and CEO. "InsitePro puts complex geospatial datasets and analytics into the hands of users who need quick answers to business problems, not teams of geospatial experts. InsitePro ensures underwriters and actuaries have access to the best possible data and models to help them build flood insurance offerings that can drive profitable premium growth within existing regulatory frameworks. Flooding is a massive problem in the U.S. and around the world, and effective insurance can mitigate the hardship endured by tens of thousands of homeowners and business owners each year."
Intermap Reader Advisory
Certain information provided in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "expect", "project", "estimate", "forecast", "will be", "will consider", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although Intermap believes that these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Intermap's forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties pertaining to, among other things, cash available to fund operations, availability of capital, revenue fluctuations, nature of government contracts, economic conditions, loss of key customers, retention and availability of executive talent, competing technologies, common share price volatility, loss of proprietary information, software functionality, internet and system infrastructure functionality, information technology security, breakdown of strategic alliances, and international and political considerations, as well as those risks and uncertainties discussed Intermap's Annual Information Form and other securities filings. While the Company makes these forward-looking statements in good faith, should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from those expected. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that the Company will derive therefrom. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Intermap or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities law.
About Intermap Technologies
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Intermap (TSX: IMP; OTCQX: ITMSF) is a global leader in geospatial intelligence solutions. The Company's proprietary 3D NEXTMap® elevation datasets and value-added geospatial collection, processing, analytics, fusion and orthorectification software and solutions are utilized across a range of industries that rely on accurate, high-resolution elevation data. Intermap helps governments build authoritative geospatial datasets and provides solutions for base mapping, transportation, environmental monitoring, topographic mapping, disaster mitigation, smart city integration, public safety and defense. The Company's commercial applications include aviation and UAV flight planning, flood and wildfire insurance, environmental and renewable energy planning, telecommunications, engineering, critical infrastructure monitoring, hydrology, land management, oil and gas and transportation. For more information, please visit www.intermap.com.
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SOURCE Intermap Technologies Corporation
