ASX-listed aerial survey firm Nearmap has bought San Francisco-based Betterview in a deal aimed at boosting insurer access to premium imagery and tech-driven property intelligence solutions. 

Combining the “two best-in-class" providers will deliver greater impact for insurers, they say. 

Founded in Australia in 2007, Nearmap expanded into the US in 2014. CEO Andy Watt says integrating the Betterview platform and AI solutions into the same technology stack will “enable better visualisation of the truth on the ground with a richer, more powerful set of AI capabilities”. 

"This is a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to innovate solutions for insurance carriers and expand our presence within the property and casualty space,” he said. 

Nearmap applies AI and computer vision to help identify and mitigate property risk and improve and automate underwriting and inspections. It uses patented camera systems and software to capture wide-scale urban areas in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand several times each year.