Risk data platform ZestyAI has announced Lloyd’s managing agency MAP Underwriting as its first London-market customer. The link will see the firm’s wildfire risk model – Z-FIRE – used to enhance the evaluation and management of California wildfire exposure in its property re/insurance portfolio.

The partnership marks ZestyAI’s first international expansion and highlights growing global concern from insurers about the impact of wildfires. In California, the structural and environmental conditions that drive loss can shift materially across short distances and change faster than broad-scale models can keep up with.

ZestyAI says that variability places a premium on the quality and resolution of the underlying data, adding that traditional models often smooth over these localised differences, introducing uncertainty into how exposure is differentiated and priced. Z-FIRE has been designed to provide a more refined view of wildfire risk by predicting which properties are most likely to experience a wildfire and which are most likely to survive.

Nick Williams, deputy active underwriter at MAP, said: “At MAP, we build our own view of risk and rely on high-quality data that strengthens that perspective. Z-FIRE enhances MAP’s view of California wildfire risk with a higher-resolution view that integrates cleanly into our framework and supports more confident decisions across our portfolio.”

Attila Toth, founder and CEO of ZestyAI, added: “The London market is paying closer attention to wildfire than ever before, and the bar for hazard intelligence underneath that work has risen with it. This partnership highlights the growing international demand for greater risk intelligence solutions and marks an exciting new chapter for ZestyAI.”