Jeff Williams: Discovering Kayrros’ geospatial data

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Jeff Williams, former Managing Director for Kayrros USA, a technology-focused earth observation analytics company using unconventional geospatial data to bring new insights to the world’s biggest industries, including energy, commodity, and insurance.

Jeff has an incredible background in top-5 consultancy and M&A, acquired in the energy sector. He uses these skills every day as he deep dives into the challenge posed by methane's impact on environmental change. 

During the course of our conversation, the pair discussed: 1) Kayrros as a series C scaleup focused on delivering solutions using unconventional geospatial data, 2) Kayrros - Off the shelf platform… with white box data analytics and scoring mechanisms to meet the need of today’s underwriters and regulators, and 3) Kayrros, the long-term geospatial partner for the insurance sector looking at solving wildfire and other connected catastrophic events.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I got my start, like many Texans who want to get into technology, I started working for a large consulting company at the tip of the spear of energy tech. There, I started working with large energy companies on data and realized that all their data is spatially related. They have assets all over the country, a sensor network that they weren’t leveraging, but more importantly, we were solving problems that were facing challenges of where to go and where not to go. I then started working with geospatial startups and realized there’s a lot of data out there that companies aren’t leveraging effectively. Six months ago, I started working at Kayrros, where they’ve generated real profits in the commodities and energy markets. I fundamentally believe I can leverage the foundation they built to work with the insurance industry and expand it from the commodities and energy industry into insurance.
• We’ve built our insights to include asset monitoring for energy companies to track climate data and detect emissions. We’ve evolved from just an insights company to a climate data company. We see the cause of methane emissions, and now we want to start tracking the effects, which include wildfires and floods, and the industries that are really going to be affected by those issues are insurance and banking, which is why we’re really starting to focus on those as the following industries to work with.
• We track pre-risk, we have a risk score, and we’re using several different geospatial datasets – weather and landslide risk. We also provide live monitoring, using satellite data to detect fires with rapid updates we can share with our clients. Also, post-fire, we provide a damage assessment. What we’re focussing on is not one specific thing. We’re affecting several parts of the insurance company, including underwriting, customer communication, and claims.
• A challenge we see with geospatial data is insufficient refreshes, poor granularity, and a lack of transparency. The lack of transparency has really hurt the geospatial industry over the past couple of years. We don’t view ourselves as a black-box solution. Many of our potential customers just get handed a solution by other companies. What we want to do is work with our customers and provide a white-box solution where they know exactly what all the data inputs are, and we do that together. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Companies like Kayrros really want to provide the right insights, and geospatial data really provides those insights for them.’
‘Kayrros got its name using satellite data to detect global crude tank levels. We used radar to detect how much crude oil was in tanks.’
‘Track climate data using satellites, drones, AI, and cell phone data.’
‘We’re fighting the geospatial fatigue in industries. We’re doing that by positioning Kayrros as a true geospatial partner, not a vendor.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Jeff Williams is the Managing Director of Sales & Business Development for Kayrros, where he is responsible for driving the Kayrros North American growth strategy.

Jeff's roots run deep in Houston, as demonstrated by his love for the Astros. Last but not least, his greatest accomplishment is his family, which includes his wife, Lucy, and their two kids, Jake and Lucy Williams.

ABOUT KAYRROS: 

Kayrros is a technology-focused earth observation analytics firm using unconventional data to bring new insights to the world’s biggest industries. By harnessing the power of satellite imagery, natural language processing, machine learning, and advanced mathematics, the team at Kayrros delivers actionable intelligence on virtually any asset worldwide, in near real-time, to support better decision-making.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures