Brex provides Zesty.ai with $10m in growth capital

By Joy Dumasia

Brex, the company reimagining finance for growing businesses, has provided $10 million in growth capital via venture debt to Zesty.ai, a leading provider of predictive data analytics in the climate risk space. The financing will help Zesty.ai power its growth in insurance and expand into use cases in real estate, including financing and asset management.

This deal marks continued momentum for Brex Venture Debt, which Brex launched in August 2021 to help founders take their business to the next level. It helps growing companies scale quickly and flexibly with a founder-friendly, less dilutive offering tailored to their needs.

Zesty.ai uses AI to deliver real-time assessments of climate risks associated with real estate assets and portfolios. The company’s technology considers a wide range of climate risks, including wildfires, wind and hail storms, floods and other catastrophic events, to help insurance companies underwrite and rate homeowners and commercial lines policies. Zesty.ai counts leading insurance companies such as Amica, AON, Berkshire Hathaway, The California Fair Plan, Cincinnati Financial, Farmers Insurance, and more among its partners. The company continues to see significant growth, as evidenced by tripling its committed revenues in 2021. 

Benjamin Wu, CEO of Brex Asset Management, said: “Zesty.ai has built the market-leading data analytics solution that addresses climate risk for insurance and real estate. Zesty.ai is a great example of the many innovative customers we are championing with Brex Venture Debt. Our mission is to support our customers at every stage of growth, and we’re excited to help the Zesty.ai team scale their business quickly.” 

Attila Toth, Founder & CEO, Zesty.ai, said: “We’re at a major inflection point in the future of climate change that requires innovation in how we assess risk and respond to its effects. Zesty.ai is dedicated to helping our customers use the power of AI to better protect families, communities and their financial well-being. Brex Venture Debt lets us focus on our core mission and be flexible in how we scale our business.”

Brex Venture Debt provides a less dilutive, more founder-friendly source of capital that gives companies like Zesty.ai the financial tools to scale quickly. It differs from traditional bank offerings by providing customers with longer terms and a faster diligence process. Brex Venture Debt is offered to certain high-growth, venture-backed customers with scalable, recurring revenue business models, including companies in the SaaS software, FinTech, B2B marketplace, and B2C subscription sectors.