Descartes Underwriting

Who owns Descartes Underwriting?

Descartes Underwriting is currently owned by Eurazeo through Eurazeo Growth Fund III (2019 vintage), since 2021. Across its history, Descartes Underwriting has been through 6 private equity ownership periods, detailed in the timeline below.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-04-21

About Descartes Underwriting

Descartes Underwriting is a Paris-based insurtech and managing general agent that designs parametric insurance for corporations and public entities against climate and emerging risks. Rather than settling traditional claims, its policies pay out automatically against objective, predefined triggers, using artificial intelligence, satellite imagery, IoT sensors and climate modelling to price and structure cover for perils such as hurricanes, floods, drought, wildfire, hail, earthquakes and crop-yield shortfalls. The company markets more than 35 parametric products spanning over 20 risks, distributed through a network of more than 300 broker partners, with underwriting capacity of up to 200 million dollars per programme. According to its own disclosures, Descartes employs more than 250 people across over 20 offices in ten countries, serves more than 600 corporate and public clients, and underwrote over 250 million dollars of gross written premium in 2025.

Ownership journey

Descartes Underwriting was founded in Paris in 2019 by Tanguy Touffut, Sebastien Piguet and Kevin Dedieu, former parametric-insurance specialists who left AXA to build a data-driven alternative to conventional catastrophe cover. It was backed from 2019 by BlackFin Capital Partners, investing through its BlackFin Tech fund, with Serena, via Serena III, and Alma Mundi, through Mundi Ventures, also among its early venture backers. In September 2020 the company raised an 18.5 million dollar Series A that added Cathay Innovation to the syndicate and funded expansion into the United States and Asia. Eurazeo joined in 2021 through its Eurazeo Growth Fund III, and Mundi Ventures backed the company again in 2022 as part of a 120 million dollar growth round that scaled the platform internationally. All of these backers remain active shareholders, and no exit or secondary transaction has been recorded.

Under PE ownership

The successive venture rounds were earmarked for international expansion, technology and hiring, and under its investors Descartes has grown from a Paris start-up into a global parametric specialist. Following the 2020 Series A it opened offices in the United States and Asia, and by the time of the 2022 growth round it fielded a team of roughly 50 engineers and data scientists and served more than 200 corporate clients, including several Fortune 500 names. Since then the business has expanded to more than 20 offices across ten countries and over 250 employees, broadened its range to more than 35 parametric products, and grown its client base to more than 600 corporate and public entities. Gross written premium exceeded 250 million dollars in 2025, and the company was named MGA of the Year in 2024, reflecting the scale-up funded by the syndicate.