Noldor, an insurtech redefining how carriers, reinsurers and reinsurance brokers connect with program data to optimize performance, recently closed on a $10 million seed funding round from a group of well-established insurance investors. According to CEO John Horneff, Noldor’s seed funding positions the company for long-term growth in using data to deepen relationships between coverholders and insurers.
Founded in D. E. Shaw’s venture studio DESCOvery in 2021, Noldor’s technology integrates with any entity with delegated underwriting authority regardless of their existing tech stack. This integration allows Noldor’s platform to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to aggregate data, uncover hidden drivers of loss ratios and automate back-office functions like reporting.
Noldor is currently working with dozens of MGAs and across multiple carriers and reinsurance brokers responsible for billions of dollars in gross written premiums. Active in both London and Bermuda (and across multiple lines of business), Noldor’s data platform is being developed to improve efficiency and reduce expense ratios of all stakeholders associated with delegated authority.
“This funding was designed to ensure Noldor will continue to grow and adapt to new use cases alongside the enterprises we work with,” said Horneff. “Technology is shifting what the efficient frontier of program administration looks like, so we’re actively investing to enable the next generation of carriers, MGAs/MGUs, and reinsurance brokers.
The funding round was led by the DESCOvery group at D.E. Shaw, a global investment and technology development firm based in New York City with participation from several other strategic investors.
“John and his team have designed a platform that meets MGAs/MGUs where they are, using their existing systems and data repositories to optimize capacity without requiring investment in tech that only works with one specific insurtech provider or carrier’s system,” said David Shainok, head of reinsurance and DESCOvery at D.E. Shaw. “The potential to drive down expense ratios while improving profitability of program business has never been more mission critical for our industry and we’re excited about what Noldor is building.”
ABOUT NOLDOR
Noldor is an insurtech that reimagines how carriers, reinsurers, and brokers connect with program data. Rather than handling MGA reporting inhouse or aggregating data within a closed system, Noldor takes a data agnostic approach that allows for the turnkey integration of MGA data – enabling our partners to spend time acting on data rather than processing it. To learn more, please visit Noldor.com.
ABOUT DESCOVERY AND THE D.E. SHAW GROUP
The D. E. Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with more than $60 billion in investment capital as of September 1, 2021, and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Since its founding in 1988, the firm has earned a reputation for successful investing based on innovation, careful risk management, and the quality and depth of its staff. The firm has a significant presence in the world’s capital markets, investing in a wide range of companies and financial instruments in both developed and developing economies. DESCOvery is the D. E. Shaw group’s venture studio. DESCOvery builds innovative, technology-oriented businesses and ventures in fintech, insurtech, data analytics, and other areas.