Our Story
ACT Collab was born from the frustration of working with traditional actuarial software that was opaque, expensive, and difficult to extend. We believe Python represents the future of actuarial work — it's open, accessible, fast, and backed by an incredible ecosystem of open-source packages.
What makes us different is our collaborative approach. Rather than building behind closed doors, we work with practicing actuaries and developers to create the tools we wish we had ourselves. Our contributors are both developers and end users of our software, and can earn ownership stakes through our innovative growth share scheme.
Why This Matters
Generative AI is emerging as the most powerful tool for creation and productivity that we have seen in our lifetimes. The next few years will see companies and individuals who use gen AI to improve and accelerate their work pull away from those that don't. Actuarial technology is well placed to benefit from this transformation.
Historically actuarial workflows have depended on closed proprietary software that needed teams of developers to build and maintain. Not anymore. Now the systems we can imagine, we can build. The rate of innovation and adoption of new modelling techniques into our daily work will accelerate rapidly as actuaries embrace this change and learn to build the tools they need with Python.
Meet the Founder
Daniel Gelderd
Founder & Contributor
Dan founded ACT Collab with a vision to make Python the natural choice for actuarial work. With extensive experience in both traditional actuarial practice and modern software development, he bridges the gap between actuarial science and technology.
Dan has held numerous capital modelling roles around the London Market — as a consultant at EMB, an independent contractor, and in-house within Lloyd's syndicates. Most recently he led the Tyche Capital Model product at Aon, overseeing the model development, quality assurance, commercial strategy, support and client relationships.
🎓 Education
MA Mathematics (1st Class), Oxford University
MSc Economics (Merit), Birkbeck College
Actuarial Diploma, Institute of Actuaries
💼 Experience
15+ years of experience working in P&C Capital and product development
Former Director at Aon STG overseeing the Tyche Capital Model
In-house and consulting experience
🏆 Expertise
Python development
Capital modeling
Product ownership
What We Value
🧭 Independence
We build what we believe in — not what short-term profits demand. This freedom is core to our model.
🧠 Expertise
We combine deep capital modelling experience with modern software engineering — no shortcuts, no juniors-for-hire.
🤝 Collaboration
We work as peers. Everyone can contribute, learn, and shape what we build — and share in the value we create.
🔓 Openness
Our code, our processes, and our ownership model are transparent. No black boxes, no hidden agendas.
⚡ Quality
We build tools that are clear, inspectable, and good enough to be used by actuaries for real work — not prototypes.
Frequently Asked Questions
"Are you for Life or just Non-Life/P&C?"
We are currently focused on Non-Life/P&C insurance, with particular emphasis on stochastic risk modelling, including capital and reinsurance evaluation. Our plan is to maintain this narrow focus and be the best we can be in this area, rather than expanding into Life insurance or other sectors prematurely.
"Can I get involved as a contributor if I'm employed by another company?"
We would love to work with contributors from other companies, as long as there are no conflicts of interest and the necessary permissions are in place. Some employment contracts include restrictive IP clauses that we need to address. In short, we would need 100% of the IP with no claims or complications from the employer, and no implicit right for the employer to use the software. If you believe your company would be open to this, we can work together to get the necessary documentation in place to allow you to contribute safely.
"You're a young company, and the world is uncertain. What happens if Act Collab goes bust?"
Act Collab has a very low-cost operating model. We have no debt, minimal employees, and next to no cashflow burn. Our contributors are all experienced contractors who fund themselves through their own contract work. So we’re actually very resilient and don’t plan on going anywhere soon. But as an extra guarantee for users of our software, we commit to releasing everything we’ve built as open-source if we ever wind down other than through a sale — and we write this into our software licence agreements for added assurance.
"What if the Python packages you use change or stop working?"
At Act Collab, we aim to only use well-established and well-maintained packages within our products and client solutions. We perform a due diligence assessment of these packages as part of each product release and are happy to share the report with clients and contributors. One of the advantages of using the CaPytal package for your modelling is that we maintain a single stable API, and do the work behind the scenes to preserve that functionality even if the underlying packages change. This simplifies things for end users, as you only need to use one Python package for all your risk modelling.
"Is this open source or commercial?"
It’s both. The CaPytal package and related tools are commercially licensed but built on open, inspectable foundations. This allows us to go to market more quickly and cost-effectively than if we were using a closed-source proprietary software stack. But there is still significant value in the CaPytal package and the actuarial models and tools we build with it. Companies already pay for capital modelling software — we believe there's space in the market for a cheaper, better, and more open solution.
"Do I need to be an expert in Python to contribute or use your tools?"
No. We welcome actuaries and developers at all experience levels. Some contributors bring deep actuarial insight, others focus on code, and many develop both over time. For users, our tools are designed to be approachable and well-documented. If you can master Igloo, Tyche, or ReMetrica, you can definitely master the CaPytal package. Our syntax is as expressive and elegant as any of the tools on the market. And if you do have prior Python experience, you’ll find it even easier to adopt our products.
Join Our Community
ACT Collab is more than a company - it's a community committed to building better actuarial technology. Whether you're an experienced actuary, a Python developer, or someone just starting their career, there's a place for you.