How Cape Analytics is using AI and aerial imagery for home insurance inspections

The home insurance industry was already worth $104 billion in 2018, according to some reports, but -- as with other sectors -- the insurance sphere is making a concerted effort to cut inefficiencies and optimize profits through automation. Seeking to position itself at the forefront of this push is Cape Analytics, a San Francisco-based startup founded in 2014 that is combining computer vision with geospatial imagery to help insurance companies evaluate properties as part of the underwriting process. Up until now, Cape Analytics specialized primarily in assessing single-family homes, and it has built a database of 70 million such properties across the U.S. But the company is now expanding its service to include other commercial residence types, such as multi-family properties -- covering low-rise apartment buildings of up to four storeys, condominiums, and more. The new offering is pitched as "the world's first reliable data stream of instant accurate commercial property information."