RISK FUTURES LAB × ASTRA NETWORK
Rebuilding LA: from
uninsurable to insurable.
In 2025, Madalina Preda and Sabine van der Linden partnered and launched Risk Futures Lab. Today, we are building an ecosystem to rebuild Los Angeles in a more resilient and insurable way.
Projected wildfire losses of $135–150B have exposed the critical gapbetween innovation and impact. We are here to close it.
$40B
Estimated insured losses from the January 2025 LA fires, the costliest wildfire event in California history
From stories to solutions
WHY HOMES BECOME UNINSURABLE
A failure of execution and
education, not of will.
Homeowners want to protect their property. Insurers want to cover resilient homes. What is missing is the execution to harden each home, the education to show owners and insurers what hardening is worth, and a working ecosystem that connects every stakeholder before it is too late. Without that connection, insurers retreat from high-risk areas, shrink their own addressable market and concentrate risk in whatever remains.
WHY NOW
The rules have changed, the evidence is
in, and insurers are returning on new
terms.
Three shifts make this the moment to build the model that other states, and other disasters, will need.
The wildfires exposed the
issues
The January 2025 fires caused an estimated
$40B in insured losses, and projected economic
losses reach $135–150B. Seven of California’s
twelve largest insurers had already paused or
restricted homeowner policies.
THE REBUILDING LA PILOT
A trailblazing ecosystem with a clear
execution path from uninsurable asset to
insurable, safe home.
We do not stop at forecasting risk. We co-design the pathway that homeowners trust and insurers reward, and we put it into practice on real properties.
2. Harden
Upgrade with climate-resilient design,
smart materials and defensible space,
with cultural construction norms and
legacy building patterns built into every
pathway.
3. Insure
Connect hardened homes to insurers who want resilient risk, with pilot products for properties still on the path to full coverage.
Pilot goals: a 40% insurability gain and 60% faster coverage turnaround Academic partners: UCLA and USC, on youth-led resilience analytics.
THE ECOSYSTEM
A closed loop, not a funnel.
Resilience that pays for itself. Data informs underwriting, underwriting rewards hardening, and every stakeholder has a place to plug in.
1. Data and risk models feed
underwriting
2. Underwriting rewards hardening
3. Hardening reduces claims
4. Reduced claims bring insurers
back to the market
5. Startups plug in with sensors, AI
risk scoring and parametric
triggers
6. Communities plug in with local
knowledge and trust
Year one: prove the model in Los Angeles.
Year two: scale to the 39 million US properties facing uninsurable catastrophe risk.
What each partner gains
Insurers
A regulatory-aligned framework to
re-enter high-risk markets, with
transparent data that sharpens
pricing and underwriting
confidence.
Homeowners & communities
Clarity on rebuilding options and
insurance eligibility, risk reduction
that becomes financially visible, and
local jobs from retrofit programs.
Founders
A direct path from prototype to
pilot, through the Astra Network
community of founders, funders
and advisors.
Investors
Early access to resilience-linked
investment, an emerging growth
frontier as new capital seeks
sustainable yield.
WHY ASTRA NETWORK
The right partner brings the
stakeholders together, and gets it done.
We connect the stakeholders
Founders, funders and advisors already meet in one high-trust Astra ecosystem. Alongside Alchemy Crew’s insurers, universities and community partners, that network turns the missing connection into a working model.
We are execution-oriented
Real humans. Strategic calls. Warm introductions. No fluff. Astra bridges theory to execution, so every workshop, assessment and introduction moves a home closer to being insurable..