Southern Oak Insurance Company and Lilypad-Centauri Insurance, two insurers operating in catastrophe-prone coastal markets, have expanded their use of ZestyAI, an AI-powered risk and decision intelligence platform for the insurance industry.
Southern Oak has announced the expansion of its partnership with ZestyAI following nine months of demonstrated impact across its Florida homeowners portfolio, while Lilypad-Centauri has newly adopted ZestyAI’s Roof Age and Z-PROPERTY™ solutions to strengthen its coastal underwriting capabilities.
Southern Oak initially adopted ZestyAI’s Z-PROPERTY™ model in 2025 to gain clearer visibility into structural condition and exposure across its Florida book of business. The model evaluates properties in 3D using aerial imagery, permit data, and tax records, assessing roof complexity, materials, condition, and other characteristics that influence claim frequency and severity.
The expansion of the partnership reflects the insurer’s continued focus on proactive risk management in Florida’s volatile market, where granular property data is considered essential to underwriting discipline and portfolio stability.
Lilypad-Centauri, which focuses on delivering coverage in hurricane and catastrophe-exposed communities, is leveraging verified roof age data and AI-driven parcel analytics to assess structural condition, roof replacement history, vegetation overhang, yard debris, and secondary structures. The insurer is applying these insights across its coastal homeowners and dwelling fire portfolios to support more defensible underwriting decisions and improved management of accumulation risk.
ZestyAI uses computer vision and machine learning applied to aerial imagery, building permits, and verified property data to enable carriers to assess risk at the individual property level, particularly in volatile, catastrophe-prone states such as Florida.
Southern Oak Insurance Company CEO Tony Loughman said, “Within months of deploying ZestyAI, it became clear that property-level intelligence needed to play a larger role in how we evaluate and manage risk. Expanding our partnership allows us to build on that foundation with greater confidence in the data behind our decisions, particularly in a market where roof condition, complexity, and exposure can materially impact outcomes.”
ZestyAI founder and CEO Attila Toth said, “These partnerships reflect a broader shift happening across catastrophe-exposed markets. Insurers are moving beyond generalized risk indicators and replacing exposure uncertainty with verifiable, property-level intelligence. Southern Oak’s decision to expand just nine months in is a strong signal of the value property-level intelligence delivers when it’s put into production. When that intelligence is transparent, validated, and regulator-ready, it becomes foundational to underwriting discipline and long-term portfolio resilience.”
Copyright © 2025 FinTech Global
