Donegal Insurance Group Expands ZestyAI Partnership for Enhanced Property Risk Intelligence

Donegal Insurance Group is expanding its use of AI-driven property intelligence by integrating ZestyAI’s Z-PROPERTY platform into its personal lines portfolio. For carriers and MGAs, this move highlights the shift toward replacing unreliable, self-reported property data with verified, imagery-based insights to improve underwriting accuracy, manage reinsurance costs, and reduce loss ratios in a volatile climate.

What was announced

Donegal Insurance Group has integrated Z-PROPERTY into its personal lines operations to gain a deeper understanding of property-level exposures. This expansion builds upon a partnership initiated in 2025, when the insurer first deployed ZestyAI’s Roof Age solution. That initial implementation utilized building permit records and over two decades of historical aerial imagery to identify roof replacement events across the contiguous United States with a reported accuracy exceeding 90%.

The addition of Z-PROPERTY allows Donegal to move beyond roof age alone, incorporating a broader suite of variables into its underwriting and portfolio management. The platform provides detailed data on roof condition, roof complexity, and lot debris—features that directly influence risk profiles and premium capture. By utilizing these verified insights, Donegal aims to provide its portfolio managers with the evidence needed to make more informed risk decisions and maintain a more accurate view of exposure across its entire homeowners business.

ZestyAI’s technology has currently secured more than 500 regulatory approvals nationwide. This regulatory foundation is critical for carriers operating in highly scrutinized markets, as it ensures that property-level intelligence can be legally and transparently applied to the risk decisions that impact rate filings and underwriting guidelines. The expanded partnership focuses on turning historically unreliable data points into verified information that Donegal’s underwriters can trust for evaluating and managing risk.

The companies involved

Donegal Insurance Group, which maintains its primary digital presence at donegalgroup.com, is an insurance organization focused on personal lines and homeowners coverage. The group manages a diverse portfolio of properties and exposures, utilizing a data-driven approach to underwriting and risk management. By expanding its technological capabilities, the group seeks to enhance the precision of its internal data across its homeowners business to better compete in the personal lines market.

ZestyAI is a technology provider specializing in property intelligence and risk analytics. The company has established a significant footprint in the insurtech sector, with FF News having tracked its developments across 57 previous reports. ZestyAI’s primary focus is on transforming historically unreliable property data into verified insights through the use of artificial intelligence and historical imagery. A key differentiator for the company is its extensive regulatory track record; it has secured more than 500 regulatory approvals nationwide. This level of compliance allows its AI-driven models to be used by carriers for critical risk decisions that are subject to state oversight. The company’s solutions, such as Roof Age and Z-PROPERTY, are designed to provide a contiguous view of property risks across the United States, supporting carriers in their efforts to evaluate and price risk with greater confidence.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked ZestyAI’s expansion within the North American market. Recently, the publication reported on how ZestyAI Warns Insurers Are Paying an “Uncertainty Premium” Due to Critical Property Data Gaps, emphasizing the financial cost of incomplete risk information. The company’s regulatory momentum was also highlighted when ZestyAI Hits 500 Regulatory Approvals for AI Property Risk Models Across 44 States. Other notable partnerships include work with specialized providers, as seen when Risk Theory Taps ZestyAI to Underwrite High-Value California Homes Amid Wildfire Risks, and innovative applications of AI such as when Georgia Farm Bureau Taps ZestyAI’s Agentic AI to Transform Regulatory Research.

What this means from an insurtech perspective

This expansion signals a maturing of the property intelligence market, where carriers are moving from testing specific data points, like roof age, to adopting holistic AI-driven property profiles. For the broader insurance industry, this puts pressure on incumbent data providers who rely on traditional, less frequent inspection methods. As Donegal leverages these insights for reinsurance and risk evaluation, it highlights a growing trend: the "defensibility" of data is becoming as important as the data itself. Carriers that fail to adopt verified, imagery-based intelligence risk adverse selection, as more sophisticated competitors use these tools to price more accurately, potentially leaving laggards with a higher concentration of poorly understood exposures.