Your $5 million Florida home just became easier to insure. Stand Insurance closed a $35 million Series B round in October 2025 to expand AI-powered coverage in Florida’s brutal insurance market. The target? Homes worth $2 million to $10 million that traditional carriers won’t touch.
Here’s what matters: Stand charges around $35,000 annually for a $5 million Pacific Palisades home. Non-admitted carriers? They’re asking $46,000 for similar coverage. That’s a 24% savings on premiums that already feel like a second mortgage.
Florida homeowners know the drill. Premiums doubled. Carriers fled. State-backed plans cap out at amounts that barely cover your kitchen renovation. Now an AI startup thinks it can crack the code that stumped century-old insurers.
Why Florida’s $2M-$10M Homes Can’t Get Covered
Traditional home insurance operates on a simple principle: spread risk across thousands of policyholders. That model collapses when hurricanes consistently deliver $20-50 billion loss events every few years.
The California FAIR Plan—a state-backed insurer of last resort—caps coverage at $3 million. Great if you own a $2.8 million beach cottage. Useless if your Boca Raton estate costs $7 million. You’re left with three bad options:
- Non-admitted carriers charge $46,000+ annually for high-value coverage because they operate outside standard rate regulations, pricing purely on catastrophe models and profit margins.
- Self-insure and pray your home survives the next Category 4 hurricane—a gamble few mortgage lenders allow.
- Piece together multiple policies from state plans, admitted carriers, and excess insurers, creating coverage gaps that emerge precisely when you file a major claim.
Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation tracks 15-20 carrier exits annually since 2022. The market isn’t getting better. It’s consolidating around high-premium, low-coverage options that leave wealthy homeowners underinsured.
How AI Changes the Home Insurance Math
Stand Insurance uses artificial intelligence to underwrite policies traditional actuaries reject. The technology analyzes satellite imagery, historical weather patterns, construction materials, and real-time risk factors to price coverage more precisely than the broad-brush models legacy insurers use.
Think of standard underwriting as reading a neighborhood’s average SAT score. AI reads every student’s individual transcript. For homes in catastrophe zones, that granularity matters.
A $5 million Pacific Palisades home sits near wildfire zones that torched neighborhoods in January 2024. Traditional carriers see “Los Angeles fires” and either deny coverage or charge catastrophic premiums. Stand’s AI examines:
- Specific property defensible space—how much clearance exists between structures and vegetation that could fuel wildfires approaching the home.
- Roof materials and fire resistance ratings installed on the property, which dramatically affect ignition probability during ember storms.
- Distance to fire stations and water sources
- Historical wind patterns during fire season
Result: $35,000 in annual premiums instead of $46,000. Still expensive. But 11 grand in savings buys you a decent vacation after paying your property taxes.
The $35 million Series B funding lets Stand expand this model into Florida, where hurricane risk creates similar pricing challenges. Insurance Information Institute data shows Florida homeowners insurance premiums climbed 42% from 2020 to 2024. Stand thinks AI can slow that trajectory.
What Stand’s Florida Expansion Means for Your Premium
Should you switch to Stand Insurance when it launches in your Florida ZIP code? Depends on your home’s specifics and risk tolerance.
| Coverage Option | Annual Premium Range | Coverage Limit | Key Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida FAIR Plan | Varies by property | Typically under $1M | Insufficient for high-value homes |
| Non-admitted carriers | $46,000+ | $2M-$10M+ | Premium volatility |
| Stand Insurance | ~$35,000 | $2M-$10M | Limited market availability currently |
Non-admitted carriers operate outside state rate regulations, meaning they can raise premiums 30-50% at renewal without regulatory approval. Stand must balance competitive pricing with financial sustainability, but AI-driven underwriting theoretically allows more stable rate structures.
The catch? Stand currently focuses on homes valued between $2 million and $10 million. If your Naples waterfront estate costs $15 million, you’re still shopping the traditional market.
Red Flags to Watch Before Switching Insurers
AI-powered insurance sounds great until you file a $3 million hurricane claim and discover the fine print. Before switching to Stand or any new carrier, verify these critical details:
- Claims-paying ability: Check the insurer’s financial strength rating through A.M. Best or similar rating agencies—startups may lack the capital reserves of established carriers during catastrophic loss events.
- Replacement cost vs. actual cash value: Confirm whether your policy pays to rebuild at today’s construction costs or reimburses depreciated value of damaged property.
- Hurricane deductibles often range from 2-10% of dwelling coverage, meaning $100,000–$500,000 out-of-pocket on a $5 million home before insurance pays a dime.
- Coverage exclusions for flood, storm surge, earth movement, and mold—which require separate policies but cause the majority of hurricane damage.
Florida law requires insurers maintain specific surplus levels, but insolvencies still happen. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Florida’s state-backed insurer of last resort, absorbed 600,000 policies from failed private carriers between 2020 and 2023.
Ask Stand about reinsurance agreements. These contracts transfer risk to global reinsurers like Swiss Re or Munich Re. Without adequate reinsurance, a single catastrophic hurricane season could bankrupt a startup insurer.
3 Steps High-Value Homeowners Should Take Now
Don’t wait until your current carrier non-renews your policy 45 days before expiration. Take these actions before the 2025 hurricane season peaks:
Get competing quotes from three sources: Stand Insurance (when available in your area), at least one non-admitted carrier, and a traditional admitted carrier if any still write policies in your ZIP code. Premium differences can exceed $15,000 annually.
Document your property improvements. New impact-resistant windows, reinforced roof attachments, and hurricane shutters reduce premiums 10-30% with most insurers. Take photos, keep receipts, and submit them with insurance applications. AI underwriting systems like Stand’s may automatically detect some improvements through satellite imagery, but manual documentation ensures you get every available discount.
Review your dwelling coverage limit annually. Construction costs jumped 40% from 2020 to 2024 in Florida. If your $5 million home now costs $6.2 million to rebuild, you’re underinsured by $1.2 million. Most policies include inflation guard endorsements, but they often lag actual construction cost increases.
The California FAIR Plan offers a sobering lesson: state-backed plans provide baseline coverage but rarely sufficient limits for high-value homes. Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance faces similar constraints. Private market solutions like Stand become essential for adequate protection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Stand Insurance available nationwide or only in specific states?
Stand Insurance currently operates in California and is expanding into Florida as of October 2025 following its $35 million Series B funding round. The company focuses on high-risk catastrophe zones where traditional carriers have reduced capacity. Availability in other coastal or wildfire-prone states may follow, but no specific timeline has been announced. Check Stand’s website or contact them directly to confirm coverage availability in your state and ZIP code.
How does AI underwriting affect my premium compared to traditional insurance?
AI underwriting analyzes property-specific risk factors—satellite imagery, construction materials, proximity to fire stations, historical weather patterns—rather than broad ZIP code averages. For a $5 million home in Pacific Palisades, Stand’s AI pricing results in approximately $35,000 annual premiums versus $46,000 from non-admitted carriers using traditional models. The 24% savings comes from more accurate risk assessment that rewards well-maintained properties in otherwise high-risk areas. However, if your home has deferred maintenance or sits in an extremely vulnerable location, AI underwriting might not offer savings over traditional options.
What happens if Stand Insurance goes bankrupt after a major hurricane?
This is the critical question with any new insurance carrier. Florida operates a guaranty association that protects policyholders if an insurer becomes insolvent, but coverage limits typically cap at $300,000 for homeowners policies—far below the $2-10 million home values Stand targets. Before purchasing coverage, verify Stand’s financial strength rating through A.M. Best and confirm their reinsurance arrangements with global reinsurers. Ask specifically about their surplus levels and catastrophe reserves. If Stand lacks adequate reinsurance or maintains insufficient surplus, a single major hurricane could threaten their solvency, leaving you with an unpaid claim and scrambling for new coverage mid-disaster.
Can I combine Stand Insurance with my state FAIR Plan for higher coverage?
Yes, many high-value homeowners layer coverage by combining a state FAIR Plan base policy with an excess umbrella policy from carriers like Stand. California’s FAIR Plan provides up to $3 million in dwelling coverage, and you can purchase additional coverage through private carriers to reach your full replacement cost. However, coordination between carriers can complicate claims—you’ll file separately with each insurer, and they may dispute which policy covers specific damage. Review both policies carefully to identify gaps, particularly around additional living expenses, personal property, and liability coverage. An independent insurance agent experienced with high-value homes can help structure layered coverage to minimize gaps.
Bottom Line: AI Won’t Fix Everything, But It Helps
Stand Insurance’s $35 million expansion into Florida represents a test case for technology-driven solutions in catastrophe insurance. The company’s AI underwriting produces 24% lower premiums than traditional non-admitted carriers for comparable coverage—a meaningful savings on $35,000+ annual premiums.
But let’s be clear about what this doesn’t solve. Climate change continues escalating hurricane intensity and wildfire frequency. No amount of artificial intelligence reduces actual catastrophe risk. AI just prices that risk more accurately.
If you own a $2-10 million home in Florida or California, Stand’s market entry gives you another quote option. Get that quote. Compare it against your current coverage and competing carriers. But don’t assume AI-powered insurance automatically means better coverage or guaranteed renewals.
The Florida home insurance market remains structurally challenged. Until construction codes require truly hurricane-proof building standards, premiums will stay high regardless of underwriting technology. Stand’s success depends on whether their AI models can predict losses more accurately than competitors—a question only answered after multiple hurricane seasons test their assumptions.
For now, high-value homeowners gain one more option in a market that desperately needs alternatives. That’s progress, even if it’s expensive progress.