IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 24, 2026--
More than 43.5 million U.S. properties are at moderate or greater risk from damaging hail, according to a new report from Cotality, which finds hailstorms can now cause financial losses comparable to a Category 4 hurricane.
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These properties represent roughly $17.84 trillion in reconstruction cost value (RCV). The findings come from Cotality’s 2026 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report, released today, which highlights the growing risk of hail as a major shift in U.S. extreme weather patterns.
Hail emerging as a major catastrophe loss driver
In 2025, the U.S. recorded 142 days with damaging hail – seven more than in 2024 and well above the 20-year average of 122 days. During those events, hailstones two inches or larger struck more than 600,000 homes, representing roughly $177 billion in RCV.
The report finds hail is becoming both more frequent and more financially destructive as housing growth and rising property values concentrate more assets in storm-prone regions.
“Hail doesn’t command the same headlines as hurricanes, floods or wildfires, but the data shows it has become one of the most financially destructive natural hazards facing the property market,” said Jon Schneyer, Cotality's Director of Research and Content. “Once considered ‘secondary’ with relatively modest losses, this ‘death-by-a-thousand-papercuts’ peril is now one of the biggest drivers of property insurance claims. That shift is placing growing pressure on insurers and recovery teams in what has become a high-stakes relay to restore damaged communities.”
Cotality's modeling shows that, across the spectrum, from the rarer 1-in-500 year to the more frequent 1-in-50 year severe convective storm (SCS) event, hail is the primary driver of loss. At the more extreme 1-in-500 year loss, hail alone could generate roughly 80%, or $58 billion, of the estimated $71 billion in all SCS perils (including tornadoes, straight-line winds, and hail) insured losses.
Even less extreme events can produce enormous losses. A severe hailstorm expected to occur once every few decades could generate nearly $30 billion in insured losses – on par with a major landfalling hurricane.
In 2025, more than 235,000 Texan homes experienced damaging hail, far exceeding any other state. Risk remains specifically concentrated in the Texas Triangle – Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio – which together account for more than $2.2 trillion in exposed RCV with moderate or greater hail damage risk. Wyoming also ranked highly with more than 41,000 impacted homes, followed by Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Kansas.
Tornado and wind exposure remain widespread
Tornadoes and straight-line winds represent another major layer of risk across the U.S. Cotality estimates that more than 76 million homes face moderate or greater tornado risk, representing more than $27 trillion in reconstruction cost value.
Another 64 million homes are exposed to damaging winds of 65 mph or stronger, representing more than $23 trillion in RCV.
Increasing complexity for insurers and recovery teams
“As expanded urbanization development puts more, larger, and more costly to repair, property in harm’s way, storm losses are growing in both scale and complexity,” continued Schneyer. “For insurers and reinsurers, accurately capturing not just the volatility but also the aggregated magnitude of these events is critical. When underwriters are able to accurately price knowing the unique vulnerabilities of each individual property and modelers can map extreme risks with confidence, capital and resources are secured before a storm strikes. After an event, precise weather verification can confirm whether the damage being claimed was from the most recent storm.
“The industry needs coordinated, data-driven insights across the entire recovery ecosystem to ensure communities can rebuild quickly and resiliently.”
Cotality's report also examines storm risk trends across Europe, where changing weather patterns and expanding urban exposure are similarly increasing the financial impact of localized storm events.
To read the full Severe Convective Storm Risk Report, visit the Cotality website.
About Cotality
Cotality accelerates data, insights, and workflows across the property ecosystem to enable industry professionals to surpass their ambitions and impact society. With billions of data signals across the life cycle of a property, we unearth hidden risks and transformative opportunities for agents, lenders, carriers, and innovators. Get to know us at cotality.com.
Comparing the storm footprint of the June 2023 Texas storm cluster with an alternative hypothetical scenario 15 to 20 miles north. Source: Cotality, 2026
Top 10 states by number of homes and associated RCV with moderate or greater risk to hail damage. Source: Cotality, 2026
Number of homes at moderate or greater risk to hail damage by state. Source: Cotality, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 24, 2026--
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“Cloud and AI have already redefined how modern businesses operate, and security must continue to evolve alongside them,” said Amiram Shachar, CEO and Co-founder of Upwind. “We are honored to be recognized by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies as we continue to establish a new foundation for cloud security built on runtime intelligence. We built Upwind around real-time visibility as the source of truth, enabling organizations to focus on what is actually happening and what is truly at risk. We are excited to continue building alongside our customers and partners as they adopt the next generation of cloud and AI technologies. This recognition is also a testament to the team we’ve built, who are pushing the boundaries of what modern security can deliver every day.”
Upwind’s platform is designed for how modern cloud environments actually operate. As cloud-native and AI-driven systems become more dynamic and ephemeral, traditional approaches based on static posture and periodic scans are no longer sufficient. Upwind’s runtime-first model continuously observes workloads, applications, identities, APIs, and data in motion, providing a real-time, inside-out view of risk grounded in actual behavior rather than assumptions. By correlating security findings with live runtime context, Upwind cuts through alert noise and surfaces only risks that matter most to the business. This enables security, DevOps, and engineering teams to prioritize effectively, respond faster, and operate with greater clarity in high-velocity environments.
Today, Upwind secures millions of workloads for global enterprises, including Waste Management, Siemens, Carvana, Roku, ClickUp, Wix, Nubank, Agoda, Peloton, Fiverr and BILL, helping security teams cut through noise and focus on what matters most. Customers report a 98% reduction in security alerts and 60% fewer irrelevant CVEs, enabling teams to prioritize real risk using runtime context.
The company’s inclusion on the list builds on a year of significant momentum. Upwind recently raised $250 million in Series B funding, marking the beginning of “The Next Wave,” its next phase of growth focused on scaling runtime-first cloud security globally. Over the past year, Upwind achieved 900% year-over-year revenue growth and 200% year-over-year customer growth, expanded its global footprint, with established offices and a growing team across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.
The company has built strategic partnerships with leading cloud providers. Through its collaboration with AWS, Upwind is integrated as a select CNAPP partner within the Extended Plan for AWS Security Hub, embedding its runtime-first capabilities into AWS’s consolidated security operating model. This enables customers to procure, deploy, and operate runtime-first cloud security through a simplified, unified AWS experience. Upwind has also partnered with Microsoft to deliver a unified runtime security solution for Azure workloads, further extending its reach across enterprise cloud environments.
Together, these milestones reflect Upwind’s role at the center of a broader industry transition. As enterprises adopt AI and real-time cloud architectures, security is shifting from fragmented, reactive tools to unified platforms grounded in runtime truth.
Upwind is leading that shift.
Upwind’s momentum is further reflected in continued recognition across the industry, including being named CNADR Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan and a Leader and Outperformer in Container Security by GigaOm. The company was also included in the Gartner 2025 Market Guide for CNAPP and three Gartner Hype Cycles, and holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating on Gartner Peer Insights. Additional recognition includes being named a Leader and Emerging Innovator in the QKS Group SPARK Matrix™ for CNAPP 2025, achieving a top-right placement in ISMG’s 2025 CNAPP Market Guide, and being recognized as a two-time Leader in Cloud Application Detection and Response (CADR) and Cloud Security in Latio’s 2025 Cloud Security Market Report, as well as an API Innovator and Runtime Innovator in the 2026 Latio Application Security Market Report. Upwind was also named to Fortune’s Cyber 60 and CRN’s Security 100, and recognized as a CRN 2025 Stellar Startup in Security.
The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s hallmark franchise and one of its most anticipated editorial efforts of the year. To determine honorees, Fast Company’s editors and writers review companies driving progress around the world and across industries, evaluating thousands of submissions through a competitive application process. The result is a globe-spanning guide to innovation today, from early-stage startups to some of the most valuable companies in the world.
“Our list of the Most Innovative Companies is about spotlighting organizations that don’t just adapt to change—they drive it,” said Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “The companies we honor this year are redefining what leadership looks like in 2026, pairing bold ideas with measurable impact and turning breakthrough innovation into real-world value. They are setting the pace for their industries and offering a blueprint for what sustained innovation can achieve.”
The full list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies honorees can now be found at fastcompany.com. It will also be available on newsstands beginning March 31, 2026.
About Upwind
Upwind is the next-generation cloud security platform built to lead the Runtime revolution. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Upwind brings together a unified vision for cloud and application-layer protection, empowering organizations to run faster, detect threats earlier and secure their environments with unmatched precision. The company was founded by Amiram Shachar and the founding team behind Spot.io (acquired by NetApp for $450 million) and is backed by leading investors including Bessemer, Salesforce Ventures, Greylock, Cyberstarts, Leaders Fund, Craft Ventures,TCV, Alta Park, Cerca Partners, Swish Ventures and Penny Jar Capital. Upwind has raised $430 million since its founding in 2022 and is trusted by forward-thinking enterprises globally to bring real-time runtime intelligence to modern cloud security. For more information or to schedule a demo, visit www.upwind.io.
About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow business publication Inc. For more information, please visit fastcompany.com.
Upwind, the runtime-first cloud security leader, is proud to have been named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026. The recognition highlights Upwind’s role in redefining how enterprises secure modern cloud and AI-driven environments. This year’s list shines a spotlight on businesses that are shaping industry and culture through innovation.
