Sotera Closes Angel Round to Transform Fine Art and Cultural Asset Insurance
We set out to solve a problem the insurance industry has avoided for decades: how do you accurately insure objects that have never been properly understood? Today, we have the backing to do it.
Insuring a car is straightforward because the insurance industry has decades of data on cars and drivers. When you try to insure a home filled with fine art, rare collectibles, or culturally significant objects, the system starts to fail. Insurers lack the data to calculate risk accurately on unusual objects.
The result is policies written without real understanding, and claims processes that only begin asking the right questions after everything is gone.
I know this firsthand. My own home burned down in the California wildfires, and the claims experience that followed was the moment I understood the scale of the problem. It was also one of the reasons I founded Sotera.
Today, I am pleased to announce that Sotera has closed its angel round.
This milestone marks the next stage of our mission to bring data, clarity, and technology to one of the most underserved corners of the insurance market and to use the same infrastructure to help protect cultural heritage from looting and trafficking worldwide.
How Sotera works
Computer vision and natural language processing
Sotera uses computer vision and NLP to understand what unusual objects are from photos submitted by owners or from existing insurance schedules, without requiring costly expert appraisals for every item.
Expert knowledge encoded into machine learning
We combine the knowledge of a wide range of specialists into machine learning models to create risk ratings for unusual object classes, giving underwriters and actuaries access to expert-level insight instantly.
Identity and provenance for objects and owners
Sotera adds a higher level of certainty around both owners and their objects, creating secure digital identities that support better insurance decisions, faster transit, higher sale values, and improved provenance records.
Cultural heritage protection is built in
The same toolkit that records and understands objects for insurance can be used by museums and at-risk collections to record objects via smartphone. If looted items appear in the insurance market, Sotera can identify and alert owners, insurers, and law enforcement.
The result is a positive impact on both sides of the market.
Insurers improve operating cost ratios with more accurate risk ratings. Consumers can insure unusual objects more effectively, at better rates, with secure digital identities for their objects created at the point of sale, rather than trying to prove ownership after a loss.
Explore Sotera and follow our Journey
Read more about Elizabeth Marston's founder journey, her Forbes Business Council writing on startup strategy, and the thinking behind Sotera's approach to risk, data, and cultural heritage.