Apollo and Moonrock announce surpassing the £1m GWP within a year after launching their drone partnership. In February 2023 Apollo and Moonrock joined forces to provide coverage for the growing drone industry. Learn more about their year in review here.
In February 2023 Apollo and Moonrock joined forces to provide coverage for the growing drone industry. As this partnership now surpasses £1m of premium, we are joined by Apollo’s Aviation Class Leader Martin Jackson, and Moonrock’s Founder and Managing Director Simon Ritterband, to share some insights from their collaboration so far and what is coming next.
Q: Martin and Simon, thank you for joining us! It’s fantastic to hear that after only announcing the partnership last year you have achieved such a milestone. Please share an update of what has been happening since we last heard from you in February.
Martin: It’s been an exciting journey and whilst we had ambitious plans, we are thrilled to have achieved this so quickly.
Simon: With the support and sponsorship of Apollo, Moonrock are now in the throes of obtaining Lloyd’s Coverholder status, another string to our bow, which further cements the relationship between our two businesses.
Q: Earlier last year you mentioned the drone industry was forecast to be £45bn by 2030, so there is a huge opportunity here! Where would you say have you seen the biggest area of growth in the industry so far?
Simon: Drone operations that fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) is without doubt one of the key enablers to unlocking the huge potential in the drone industry. We have been fully supportive of new and existing technology companies as they test their drones in the build up to full commercial flights.
Drones with the ability to lift large payloads often in replace of helicopters, are also another example.
Passenger drones which we thought were a long way off are now technically ready and we are pleased to be providing insurance to some companies in the testing stage.
Q: We anticipated drones having huge benefits to the UK economy as well as environmental benefits. Have you remained purely focused on the UK, or branched out internationally?
Martin: We were focused initially on UK risks with plans to expand eventually but it became apparent in first month there were worldwide distribution opportunities which has attracted key London Market brokers to place internationally.
Simon: It has been incredible to be presented with risks from around the world and monitoring all the different applications and user cases that are on offer.
Q: Congratulations on such a positive year. Are you able to share what is in store for 2024?
Simon: With our drone industry expertise and the backing of Apollo’s expert Underwriters and London Market Brokers, we are in a brilliant position to continue growing and removing barriers for our clients in such a complex area. We are ready to take on the growth of this market and explore areas outside the usual comfort zones of drone coverage.
Martin: 2023 has been a great opportunity for us to explore this market. We are delighted to have surpassed our expectations and aim for continued exponential growth as we gear up the drone and EV market. Our expectations are for a triple digit growth of the next 12 months; this growth complements Apollo’s wider Aviation offering and our plans to continue expanding into new areas.
Thank you to Simon and Martin for joining us and for sharing your insights.