Founded in Atlanta, built for the operators traditional insurance ignores.
Riskwright was incorporated in 2023. Patrick Durand came to parametric insurance through catastrophe modeling and reinsurance analytics, then a decade in agricultural structured credit in the Southeast. He watched parametric structures work well at the Lloyd's syndicate and Swiss Re treaty level — well-understood, commercially mature — while mid-market grain producers and infrastructure operators had no access to the same mechanism. The barriers were distribution, trigger design expertise, and a willingness to do the underwriting work for $150,000 policies that large markets don't prioritize. Riskwright was built to remove those barriers.
Reinsurance analytics, atmospheric science, and agricultural distribution.
Ten years in catastrophe modeling and reinsurance analytics, followed by agricultural structured credit at regional lenders in the Southeast. Patrick built Riskwright after watching weather-correlated credit events cycle through the same pattern: a drought year, a slow claims process, and loan covenant decisions made before the insurance payment arrived. Parametric structures were well-understood at the Lloyd's and Swiss Re level but hadn't reached mid-market grain producers and infrastructure operators. That gap is what Riskwright is built to close.
PhD in atmospheric science, prior research experience at NOAA. At Riskwright, Yara leads trigger design methodology, NOAA ASOS and PRISM data source quality assessment, and the correlation analysis that determines whether a proposed index is adequate before any policy is quoted. She developed the R² threshold framework that governs our underwriting standards for basis risk.
Fifteen years as an agricultural insurance broker, placing specialty and surplus lines coverage for grain operations, co-operatives, and agribusiness lenders across the Southeast. James joined Riskwright in 2024 to lead broker relationships and distribution channel development. He brings the distribution network and client relationships that early-stage underwriters need to reach mid-market operators.
Why we started in Atlanta.
The Southeast is one of the most weather-exposed agricultural regions in the United States — high drought frequency, flash precipitation variability, and frost events that hit specialty crops in patterns that standard actuarial models underestimate. It was the right place to develop and test the product.
We started with agriculture because the loss correlation between weather indices and grain yields is well-documented in academic literature. Infrastructure coverage came next because the same meteorological events that stress crops also stress the systems that move power and goods.
A parametric MGA, not a traditional carrier.
Riskwright operates as a Managing General Agent (MGA) specializing in parametric climate structures. We design the trigger, build the index, price the premium, and administer the payout — working with admitted carrier partners and licensed intermediaries to place policies within applicable state regulatory frameworks.
We are not a traditional insurance carrier. We do not write indemnity coverage, and we do not participate in the federal crop insurance program. Our product is specifically the parametric trigger model — index-based, independently verifiable, and structured for speed. Regulatory discussions for specific state markets are ongoing.
Three operating principles.
Full transparency
Every trigger, every data source, every calculation disclosed in the policy schedule. If a counterparty can't independently verify a payout determination, we haven't done our job.
Honest positioning
We tell clients when parametric is the wrong structure for their situation. Basis risk is real and we discuss it before binding, not after a trigger misses. Long-term relationships matter more than any single placement.
Speed as the product
The 72-hour payout commitment is the product. Not a marketing claim, not an aspiration — a contractual obligation. Our payment operations are built around it and we don't bind policies we can't honor it on.