Yesterday saw the launch of Mythen, an AI-powered parametric re/insurance platform writing natural catastrophe risks, spearheaded by insurance technology stalwart Sandra DeSilva.
Speaking with Reinsurance Business at the 2025 Bermuda Risk Summit, president and CEO DeSilva (pictured), who has served the insurance, reinsurance and capital markets for over two decades, highlighted why the time was right for Mythen’s launch amid changing conversations about the full potential of parametric solutions. The market is more receptive to innovative solutions today, she said, not least because people are looking for support in “distressed” areas of the market.
Launched in Bermuda and Texas, the business comprises a global team of re/insurance and technology specialists looking to use advanced technologies to provide liquidity and coverage for otherwise difficult-to-insure risks. “We've entered a space that is distressed,” she said. “We’re going out to the Southeast US coastal states where, as you can imagine, a lot of insurance carriers have exited the space. Rates have become challenging for insureds and deductibles are increasing.
“There is a big gap in coverage, and that's a place where a lot of carriers were looking to decrease their exposure and decrease their offering. And we saw that as an opportunity, in addition to some of the market condition changes that have happened over the past year. Those things combined, I think, create a compelling reason to go into this space at this time, and of course, we have our eye on how to continue to develop our product offering.”
Offering insight into the business, DeSilva noted that Mythen Holdings Bermuda oversees Mythen Insurance Services, and encompasses a Texas-based managing general underwriter (MGU), as well as a claims service unit, Mythen Claims Services, and Mythen Re, a fully collateralized Bermuda segregated cell unit called Eiger 2025. The business has partnered with Texas-based insurer Southlake Specialty Insurance Company, she said, which provides A.M. Best A- VIII (Excellent) Rated paper, fronting, and leverage, while the MGU enjoys quota share coverage from partners of the wider reinsurance market.
“We are offering coverage in the US to start with, and then we will expand globally. We are a fully licensed MGA and we offer our coverage in eight US South East Coast states, from Texas all the way through to Florida, up to the Carolinas.” Being a full-service MGA is critical to what Mythen is looking to offer, she said, as is using the latest technologies and working with highly skilled partner companies to penetrate deeper into the insurance market with products across the natural and other catastrophe risk spectrum.
“We are motivated to help combat climate change and close the widening insurance gap by providing the technology to administer global portfolios subject to climate risk and uncertainty,” she said. Touching on the “vital” role that re/insurance businesses play in moving the dial on closing the insurance gap, she noted that one of the primary calls for action across the re/insurance market is regarding its reliance on larger global entities to help work against forces outside of their control.
“[Parametric solutions] are one of the things that they can leverage, that they can control in order to protect their interests – to protect their insureds, and to protect their economic stability and strength,” she said. She looked to Mythen’s first product ‘WindSpeed’ which is a first-dollar-of-loss product, offering $500,000 in coverage per location. That’s a significant advancement for the market because it’s where the need is – whether that’s the need of boutique hotel owners, restaurant owners, or other commercial property owners. Mythen’s WindSpeed technology and internet platform enables instant quoting and portfolio management, she said, while allowing for upscaling risk and hedging.
With the launch underway, DeSilva paid tribute to the business’s “wonderful partners” and highlighted that the next step is all about execution. “It’s all about getting the word out there about this product, but we also want to educate the market and the brokerage community in the United States on how to offer this product and bridge this insurance gap in coverage,” she said.
“For us, it's about scalability and speed, about creating efficiencies and an environment where there’s an opportunity for us to scale and be very efficient in how we’re underwriting, how we’re managing exposure, and how we’re working with our partners in the insurance industry so they have transparency and a clear view of how we’re building a strong track record for this very new product.”
