Kavach: Building a Real-Time Parametric Insurance System for the Gig Economy

Why We Built This Gig workers operate in one of the most unpredictable environments. A delivery rider facing a 48°C heatwave or sudden flooding doesn’t just have a “bad day”—they lose their entire day’s income. Existing insurance systems don’t address this problem well: Claims take days or weeks Policies are expensive and rigid Micro-duration risks (like a single day of extreme weather) are ignored We wanted to design something fundamentally different: a real-time, automated, low-cost insurance system that reacts instantly to environmental risk. That’s how Kavach was born. *What is Kavach? * Kavach is a parametric insurance platform designed specifically for gig workers. Instead of manual claims, payouts are triggered automatically when predefined conditions are met. Key Design Goals Low cost: Affordable daily subscription model Instant payouts: No claim filing or manual approval Fraud-resistant: Hardware-backed verification Scalable: Built on a modular MERN + AI architecture System Ov