In Norse mythology, Bifröst was a magical rainbow that linked Midgard, the Earth, to Asgard, the fortress-city of the gods. In the field of reinsurance, it is a digital platform that connects insurers and reinsurers.
Unknown to the general public, the latter nevertheless play a decisive role in the insurance system, since they are in a way the insurers of the insurers. With their considerable equity capital, they are able to dilute risks and smooth out any losses that insurers could not face alone, for example in the event of large-scale natural disasters.
The transfer of risks between insurers and reinsurers takes place annually during a renewal managed by brokers. It is a very complex process, essentially manual and can take several months as there are so many variables to take into account.
"Bifröst offers a digital platform that allows us to do things more efficiently," explains Tristan Garrec. "We optimize the risk placement process by providing decision support tools that are based on algorithmic solutions that I develop in connection with the research I have previously conducted."
After his engineering degree from ENSTA Paris in 2015, Tristan Garrec indeed pursued a thesis at the Toulouse School of Economics, and then was a postdoctoral fellow at ENS Paris-Saclay and at EDF's research department.
"Our algorithms reproduce market dynamics using mathematical optimization. All the parameters we obtain from insurers and reinsurers constitute the inputs to the model. Our optimization algorithms will perform a number of treatments on these inputs to ensure that everyone receives the best prices and the best shares, according to objective criteria of optimality."
With the one million euros that Bifröst has just raised, Tristan Garrec and his partner, Victor Moreau, want to grow their team both commercially and technically.
"We also offer internships that could be of interest to ENSTA Paris students, either during a gap year or as a final year project," emphasizes Tristan Garrec.
"I know that ENSTA Paris trains excellent, highly structured engineers, and we would be happy to have them join us, especially as the right-hand man to the CEO. Holding an operational position in a fast-growing startup that has just raised funds is a great opportunity for someone with a technical profile interested in entrepreneurship."