International Innovation award goes to Bermuda’s Cactus Ltd

Cactus Ltd, the Bermudian-based company behind Marmalade, the deal pricing and data capture system, has won the International Innovation of the Year award at the Bermuda Tech Awards.

The company’s founder, James Robinson, was present to collect the award as was the company’s co-founder Mark Higgins, who travelled from Canada for the event.

Mr Robinson said: “We believe that Marmalade has the potential to revolutionise the way that insurance is placed and underwritten and we are committed to continuing to develop the product to make it even better.”

Mr Higgins said: “This award is a great recognition of all the hard work the team has put into developing Marmalade. We are very proud of what we have achieved so far, and we are looking forward to continuing to grow the company and the product.”

Marmalade, a web-based SaaS platform that’s custom-built for casualty and specialty underwriters, is so named because it’s not JAAM (just another actuarial model). It is available on a subscription basis.

Mr Robinson added: “I’m delighted to be able to describe Marmalade as an award-winning software product. It feels like a big vote of confidence.”

Speaking about the company’s plans, Mr Robinson said: “Our goal is to continue to grow the company and the product and to make Marmalade the go-to solution for casualty and specialty underwriters globally.”

The company of five employees is optimistic about its prospects of creating jobs and opportunity in Bermuda and this summer participated in the Lloyd’s Lab accelerator programme.

Mr Robinson said: “Our UK subsidiary has been able to hire an apprentice that would be awarded a full bachelor’s degree after working with us for four years. As the teaching is delivered remotely, I hope that we will one day be able to extend this opportunity to Bermudians.

“We’ve received such wonderful support from the community in Bermuda especially from Ignite and InnoFund and ultimately we want Bermuda to be our base of operations.”

Since 2007, the Economic Development Department of the Bermuda government has presented the Tech Awards, which celebrate the best Bermudian-based companies and products that have made their mark in the technology industry both locally and internationally.

The awards seek to celebrate and reward Bermudian-based creators and innovators doing outstanding work in the island’s technology industry.

At the GIRO conference organised by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in Liverpool later this month, Mr Robinson will present on how actuaries can build better data sets by focusing on giving their underwriters actionable immediate feedback.