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Insurance carriers have long relied on aerial imagery to assess property risk, but not all imagery offers the same level of insight. Oblique imagery—angled aerial photos that show the sides of buildings, not just the rooftops—is gaining traction as an essential tool for property underwriting, inspections, and claims.

ZestyAI is proud to now offer oblique imagery from major imagery providers directly within our platform. That means carriers get access to the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and high-resolution views available, streamlined into a single interface, and always in context with our industry-leading property risk insights.

Why Oblique Imagery Matters

Unlike traditional top-down (orthogonal) imagery, oblique views provide side-angle perspectives that reveal critical features often missed from above. This added dimension helps insurers:

• Spot more risk factors: Identify decks, porches, attached structures, handrails, and overhangs—details that are often invisible from above but meaningful for underwriting and rating.
• Gain a more complete picture: Assess roof geometry and slope, siding condition, and visible maintenance issues without needing an in-person inspection.
• Underwrite with confidence: Reduce uncertainty in borderline or complex risks by giving underwriters a full visual context.
• Support faster claims verification: Pre-loss oblique imagery strengthens documentation, helps reduce disputes, and expedites claim handling.

As Rick Smith, Underwriting Manager at Standard Casualty, explains:

“We can get overhead and oblique shots of those locations. We can accomplish through aerial photography what we do through an on-site inspection at a fraction of the cost, which is really important for us.”

The Problem: Fragmented, Outdated, or Incomplete Views

Many carriers still rely on patchwork imagery or public sources like Google Street View.

The result?

• Coverage gaps: Rural, coastal, or wildfire-prone regions may not be frequently or adequately captured, leaving insurers with limited visibility in high-risk areas.
• Stale or seasonal views: Images can be several years old or captured in winter conditions, where snow, shadows, or vegetation obscure key features. Public tools like Google Street View are often even more outdated, sometimes by five years or more.
• No risk context: Raw imagery alone doesn't tell the full story. Without integrated risk scores or property intelligence, it’s just a picture, not a decision-making tool. 

These challenges lead to slower decisions, higher inspection costs, and greater exposure to unknown risks.

ZestyAI’s Advantage: A Complete, Unified View

ZestyAI removes these roadblocks by offering a seamless, integrated oblique imagery experience, built directly into our property risk platform. Here’s what sets us apart:

• Aggregated imagery from major providers: No more relying on a single source. We deliver the widest available footprint and intelligently surface the best imagery for each property.
• Highest recency and resolution: Our platform automatically displays the most recent, clearest, and most relevant imagery available, so you never miss what matters.
• Contextualized insights: Oblique views are shown alongside our AI-powered risk scores and property features, empowering faster and more informed decisions.
• Workflow-ready: Designed for use across underwriting, inspection triage, and claims support, with full scalability for enterprise teams.

Real Impact for Carriers

Insurers using ZestyAI’s oblique imagery capabilities are already seeing measurable improvements:

• Reduced reliance on field inspections
• More accurate roof and structure classifications
• Faster quote turnaround with fewer touchpoints
• Better risk segmentation and fewer surprises at renewal

Combined with ZestyAI’s property-level risk models for perils like wildfire, severe storms, and water damage, oblique imagery helps carriers make decisions with more confidence and clarity every step of the way.

See What You’ve Been Missing 

Oblique imagery adds a critical dimension to property assessment, and when it’s seamlessly integrated with ZestyAI’s AI-powered insights, the result is faster decisions, better risk selection, and more confident underwriting.

See your risk from every angle. 

Schedule a demo today.

ZestyAI today announced a new partnership with Kin Insurance, a direct-to-consumer, digital home insurance provider committed to serving catastrophe-exposed markets.

As part of its expansion into California, Kin has deployed Z-FIRE, ZestyAI’s wildfire risk model, to accurately assess property-level wildfire exposure and expand access to coverage in high-risk areas.

The model was integrated in just 10 days, enabling Kin to move quickly in meeting the needs of California’s evolving market.

Meeting California’s Growing Need for Property-Level Wildfire Insight

California continues to face a widening insurance gap, driven by more frequent natural disasters and insurer withdrawals.

This partnership supports Kin’s commitment to bringing insurance options back to communities impacted by limited availability of coverage.

Z-FIRE uses machine learning to evaluate each property’s unique characteristics, including defensible space, building materials, topography, vegetation, and more, to predict which properties are most likely to experience a wildfire and which ones will survive.

Why Kin Chose Z-FIRE to Support Responsible Growth

Michael McCright, vice president, pricing and risk management at Kin, said:

“California requires a smarter, more modern approach to home insurance risk management. ZestyAI’s Z-FIRE model brings the level of insight we need to confidently assess risk and offer coverage in areas at risk of wildfire.”

“Kin’s expansion into California is exactly the kind of forward-thinking move our technology was built to support,” said Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI. “Together, we’re helping show that with the right data and tools, insurers can re-enter challenging markets with confidence—and deliver meaningful protection to homeowners who need it most.”

“Equally important, Z-FIRE empowers insurers to recognize and reward mitigation efforts at the property level, encouraging homeowners to take action that reduces risk for themselves and their communities.”

Real-World Performance: Z-FIRE in the Los Angeles Wildfires

Z-FIRE’s performance has been validated through real-world events: Following the recent Los Angeles wildfires, Z-FIRE’s highest-risk ratings closely corresponded with the hardest-hit areas, with 94% and 87% of the areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires rated as High Risk by the model.

Among homes located within these perimeters, those flagged as having the highest vulnerability to damage were 50% more likely to be destroyed—highlighting the critical value of property-specific insights, even in dense urban settings.

ZestyAI works closely with regulators to ensure transparency, validation, and continuous monitoring of its AI-driven models.

The company has secured regulatory approvals across all Western states for Z-FIRE, along with broad acceptance of its severe convective storm suite of models in Texas, Colorado, the Midwest, and the Great Plains.

The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services has approved ZestyAI's Severe Convective Storm suite, including the proprietary Z-HAIL™, Z-WIND™, and Z-STORM™ models.

Michigan Faces Rising Losses From Severe Convective Storms

The approval comes as Michigan contends with rising weather-related insurance losses.

According to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the state has experienced over $5 billion in insured storm damage since 2019, with hail and straight-line winds accounting for the majority of claims. In 2024, a series of intense summer storms alone caused more than $1.2 billion in insured losses.

Why Carriers Need Property-Level Precision

ZestyAI’s AI-driven platform predicts the likelihood and severity of claims from severe convective storms at the individual property level by analyzing the interaction of local climatology with property-specific characteristics. In contrast, most risk assessment models today rely on broader territory or ZIP code-level evaluations, overlooking critical property-level factors. 

Each model is built and validated on extensive real-world claims data and delivers transparent explanations of the key drivers behind every risk score, helping carriers make more accurate underwriting and rating decisions.

How ZestyAI’s Storm Models Improve Risk Assessment

Key capabilities include:

• Z-HAIL: Predicts hail damage risk and claim severity using property-specific attributes like roof complexity, historical losses, and accumulated damage, identifying which homes are most likely to file a claim, even within the same neighborhood. 
• Z-WIND: Combines AI-generated 3D analysis of roof condition, complexity, and potential failure points with local climatology to deliver pivotal insights into property-specific wind vulnerability and severity. 
• Z-STORM: Predicts the frequency and severity of storm damage claims, including hail and wind, examining the interaction between climatology and the unique characteristics of every structure and roof.

What Michigan’s Approval Means for Insurers

“As severe weather becomes more frequent and costly, insurers need tools that keep pace with evolving risks,” said Bryan Rehor, Director of Regulatory Affairs at ZestyAI.

“This approval gives Michigan carriers access to precise, property-level insights that support smarter underwriting and help reduce preventable losses.”

Michigan's approval marks the 17th state to embrace ZestyAI's Severe Convective Storm suite, reflecting increasing regulatory confidence in AI-powered risk models that deliver actionable insights while supporting industry-wide resilience efforts.

With insured losses projected to exceed $30 billion, the recent Los Angeles wildfires rank among the costliest in U.S. history—reshaping how insurers think about risk, resilience, and readiness.

Watch the Full Webinar → LA Fires in Focus: What Insurers Need to Know

In this on-demand webinar, experts from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), the Western Fire Chiefs Association, Cal Poly’s WUI Fire Institute, and ZestyAI unpack what really happened—from frontline response to lab-based research and model performance—and share critical strategies insurers can use to prepare for what’s next.

Watch this session if you’re a Product Managers, Underwriters, Actuaries, and Risk & Innovation leaders looking to make informed decisions in an increasingly volatile wildfire landscape.

What You’ll Learn

• Key takeaways from the Los Angeles wildfires
• Research on structure-to-structure fire spread and resilience factors
• How wildfire risk models performed—what we got right (and wrong)
• Practical strategies to reduce exposure and strengthen resilience

Meet the Experts

• Anne Cope, Chief Engineer, IBHS
• Bob Roper, CEO, Western Fire Chiefs Association
• Frank Frievalt, Director, WUI Fire Institute at Cal Poly
• Kumar Duhvur, Co-Founder & CPO, ZestyAI

With insured losses projected to exceed $30 billion, the recent Los Angeles wildfires rank among the costliest in U.S. history—reshaping how insurers think about risk, resilience, and readiness.

Watch the Full Webinar → LA Fires in Focus: What Insurers Need to Know

In this on-demand webinar, experts from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), the Western Fire Chiefs Association, Cal Poly’s WUI Fire Institute, and ZestyAI unpack what really happened—from frontline response to lab-based research and model performance—and share critical strategies insurers can use to prepare for what’s next.

Watch this session if you’re a Product Managers, Underwriters, Actuaries, and Risk & Innovation leaders looking to make informed decisions in an increasingly volatile wildfire landscape.

What You’ll Learn

• Key takeaways from the Los Angeles wildfires
• Research on structure-to-structure fire spread and resilience factors
• How wildfire risk models performed—what we got right (and wrong)
• Practical strategies to reduce exposure and strengthen resilience

Meet the Experts

• Anne Cope, Chief Engineer, IBHS
• Bob Roper, CEO, Western Fire Chiefs Association
• Frank Frievalt, Director, WUI Fire Institute at Cal Poly
• Kumar Duhvur, Co-Founder & CPO, ZestyAI

ZestyAI today announced that the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID) has formally approved its Roof Quality solution for use in residential property underwriting.

CID conducted a comprehensive third-party actuarial review of ZestyAI’s model, evaluating methodology, data integrity, and regulatory compliance against its rigorous standards.

What CID’s Approval Means for Carriers

Part of Z-PROPERTY™ , the Roof Quality model enables insurers to assess and price roof risk with unmatched accuracy.

By combining 3D property analysis, high-resolution aerial imagery, and AI trained on extensive real-world data, the platform replaces subjective or incomplete assessments with objective, property-specific intelligence.

The model classifies roofs into five standardized condition levels, helping insurers assess property risk with greater precision. It distinguishes between surface-level wear and structural issues, flagging meaningful signs of deterioration such as missing shingles, tarps, or water pooling.

Bryan Rehor, Director of Regulatory Affairs at ZestyAI, said:

“Roof condition is one of the strongest predictors of loss, yet historically one of the hardest to assess without costly inspections. This approval affirms the accuracy, fairness, and transparency of our approach and reflects our broader commitment to aligning innovation with consumer protection.”

How ZestyAI’s Roof Quality Model Improves Risk Assessment

ZestyAI maintains active engagement with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and state-level departments to ensure its models meet evolving standards for fairness, transparency, and consumer protection.

By proactively filing through in-house Rating and Advisory Organizations, ZestyAI ensures its models meet the strictest regulatory standards before reaching the market. 

ZestyAI’s models are trusted by regulators and insurers to assess risk in the nation’s most climate-exposed regions with Z-FIRE, ZestyAI’s wildfire risk model, approved by regulators in all western states. Its Severe Convective Storm suite is approved in 16 states across the Midwest, Great Plains, and South.