SPA Risk

What SPA Risk does

SPA Risk LLC is a Denver, Colorado-based professional services firm specializing in probabilistic seismic and multi-hazard risk assessment. Founded in 2004 and operating with 1-10 employees under principals Charles Scawthorn and Keith Porter, the firm serves government agencies, insurance companies, utilities, real estate entities, manufacturers, and financial institutions requiring building-specific and portfolio-level quantification of risk from earthquake shaking, liquefaction, fire following earthquake, flood, and hurricane perils. Its work product includes benefit-cost analyses for catastrophe risk mitigation, independent review of seismic risk-management studies, and operational risk audits.

The firm's core technology centers on analytically derived seismic vulnerability functions and adjustment factors that combine laboratory test data and computer models with empirical loss data. These functions use scalar or vector-based hazard measures and explicitly account for important sources of uncertainty, allowing modelers to combine SPA's analytical ratios with their own historical loss functions. The methodology is described by the firm as vetted at Stanford University and Caltech and aligned with state-of-the-art next-generation performance-based earthquake engineering. Deep expertise in fire following earthquake — described by the firm as the largest source of loss in major urban earthquakes — is a distinctive technical focus, supported by probabilistic ignition modeling (e.g., approximately 1,600 ignitions expected in greater Los Angeles following a major southern San Andreas event).

SPA Risk monetizes primarily through project-based consulting engagements, complemented by a portfolio of reusable software tools. SPARE (launched 2019) is a quick-analysis application for estimating vulnerability functions and the first module in a planned suite of risk-estimation tools. ROVER is FEMA-sponsored mobile software integrating FEMA 154, ATC-20, ShakeCast, and HAZUS-MH for pre- and post-earthquake building safety assessments. OpenRisk is an open-source, object-oriented multi-hazard risk-analysis suite developed in collaboration with USGS, the Southern California Earthquake Center, and Instrumental Software Technologies. The firm's go-to-market relies on standards leadership (chairing the HAZUS Open Source Committee at NIBS, leading global vulnerability and ontology consortia within the Global Earthquake Model, principal roles in USGS SAFRR disaster scenarios including HayWired), peer-reviewed academic publication, conference participation, and direct consulting engagements.

Name

SPA Risk

Legal name

SPA Risk LLC

Website

https://sparisk.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SPA Risk is a Denver-based consulting firm specializing in probabilistic seismic and multi-hazard risk assessment, serving government agencies, insurance carriers, utilities, real estate entities, manufacturers, and financial institutions through analytical vulnerability functions, independent risk review, and FEMA-aligned software tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SPA Risk is a consulting firm specializing in seismic and multi-hazard risk assessment. It provides professional services including seismic vulnerability analysis, risk and hazard evaluation, and independent risk review for buildings, portfolios, and infrastructure exposed to earthquake, fire following earthquake, liquefaction, flood, and hurricane perils. The firm complements its consulting work with proprietary software tools including SPARE (vulnerability function estimation), ROVER (FEMA-sponsored rapid building safety assessment), and OpenRisk (open-source multi-hazard risk analysis platform developed with USGS and SCEC).

Product overview

SPA Risk offers a portfolio of risk assessment tools and professional services focused on multi-hazard risk evaluation. Their product suite includes SPARE (a quick analysis application for estimating vulnerability functions), ROVER (FEMA-sponsored mobile software for rapid earthquake safety assessments), and OpenRisk (open-source multihazard risk analysis software). These tools are complemented by professional consulting services including seismic vulnerability analysis, risk and hazard evaluation, risk review, and operational risk audits. The company serves government, utilities, manufacturing, finance, insurance, and real-estate entities concerned with risk from natural and man-made disasters.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SPARE: SPA Risk Estimation - a quick analysis application for estimating vulnerability functions, launched August 2008.
• OpenRisk

Products and services

• Risk and Hazard Evaluation Probabilistic quantification of risk from earthquake shaking, liquefaction, fire following earthquake, flood, hurricane, and other perils for individual facilities, groups, or large portfolios, including benefit-cost analysis of catastrophe risk mitigation.
• Risk Review Independent review of seismic risk-management studies and plans, checking necessity, efficacy, and economic efficiency of mitigation plans and expressing costs and benefits in terms meaningful for business decision-making.
• Seismic Vulnerability Functions Analytically derived seismic vulnerability functions using laboratory test data and computer models that account for important sources of uncertainty, with adjustment factors for wood frame construction (unbraced cripple walls, braced cripple walls, slab-on-grade, poor/typical/superior condition, single/two stories, wood sheathed vs stucco, concrete stem walls, hillside sites, post-and-pier foundations) and steel frame construction (pre- and post-Northridge welded steel moment frame).
• SPARE (SPA Risk Estimation) Quick analysis application for estimating seismic vulnerability functions. SPARE is the first module in SPA's suite of risk estimation tools.
• ROVER (Rapid Observation of Vulnerability and Estimation of Risk) FEMA-sponsored mobile software for performing pre- and post-earthquake rapid safety assessments on mobile devices, operating on Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Windows devices. Integrates FEMA 154 and ATC-20 standards with HAZUS-MH and ShakeCast, with built-in soil and seismology geodatabases, unlimited digital photos, automatic geolocation, real-time process control, and a secure web-accessible database.
• OpenRisk Suite of object-oriented, web- and GUI-enabled, open-source software code for conducting multi-hazard risk analysis, developed in collaboration with USGS, Southern California Earthquake Center, and Instrumental Software Technologies, Inc.

Quantifiable outcome

• Mitigation benefit-cost ratio of approximately 4:1 for natural hazard mitigation
• +4 more outcomes

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Ongoing collaboration with UC Berkeley's PEER Center for performance-based earthquake engineering research. Scawthorn serves as Visiting Scholar at PEER. Joint work on post-earthquake firefighting water supply reliability and PBEE-2 methodology.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019SPA developed ROVER (Rapid Observation of Vulnerability and Estimation of Risk) software for FEMA. Keith Porter coordinates ROVER demonstration projects. Collaboration with FEMA on loss estimation methodologies and building safety evaluation procedures.
• California Seismic Safety CommissionmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Scawthorn leading development of White Paper on emergency water supply reliability for fire following earthquake. Work approved by Commission for implementation.
• US Geological Survey (USGS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017SPA principals Keith Porter and Charles Scawthorn participate as leads in USGS Science Application for Risk Reduction (SAFRR) disaster planning scenarios including HayWired, SAFRR Tsunami, and ongoing scenario development. Porter serves as lead for engineering aspects of the HayWired project. Scawthorn leads assessment of fire following earthquake impacts.
• California Governor's Office of Emergency ServicesmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011Co-sponsor of HayWired fire following earthquake workshop. Joint effort on emergency preparedness and disaster response planning.
• Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)majorTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2010Collaboration on OpenRisk development and seismic risk analysis methodologies. Joint work on multi-hazard risk analysis software and earthquake scenario development.
• Global Earthquake Model (GEM)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Keith Porter heads global consortium for development of seismic vulnerability functions for GEM. Charles Scawthorn heads global consortium for GEM Ontology and Taxonomy development. Both coordinate US data collection for GEM Consequences database.
• National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Charles Scawthorn chairs the HAZUS Open Source Committee for NIBS. SPA working on updating and expanding the classic 4:1 benefit-cost analysis of natural-hazard mitigation for NIBS.
• World BankminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2010Participation in Understanding Risk Conference organized by World Bank. Scawthorn spoke on open-source risk models in World Bank distance learning seminar series.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Karen Clark & Company: Independent catastrophe risk modeling and cat bond advisory firm serving insurers and reinsurers globally. Directly comparable to SPA's insurance catastrophe modeling and reinsurance design work, especially around transparent, open-model approaches.
• RMS (Risk Management Solutions): Now part of Moody's, RMS is the dominant catastrophe modeling platform serving global insurers and reinsurers with earthquake, hurricane, and flood models. Directly comparable to SPA's seismic risk quantification and vulnerability function work for insurance clients, but at vastly larger scale.
• CoreLogic (now Cotality): Provides property data and natural hazard risk analytics including earthquake, flood, and wildfire for insurers, lenders, and government. Comparable to SPA's multi-hazard risk evaluation and portfolio risk assessment services for real estate and insurance segments.
• JBA Risk Management: Specialist catastrophe flood and earthquake modeling firm serving insurers, governments, and reinsurers. Comparable to SPA's multi-hazard probabilistic modeling approach and government/insurance client mix, with a particular strength in European flood markets.
• AIR Worldwide: Catastrophe risk modeling firm (now part of Verisk) providing earthquake, hurricane, and flood models to insurers and reinsurers. Comparable to SPA in delivering probabilistic seismic loss estimates and PML analytics, with a much broader software platform footprint.
• Impact Forecasting (Aon): Aon's catastrophe modeling unit producing earthquake, flood, wind, and climate models for insurers. Comparable to SPA in producing hazard, vulnerability, and loss outputs used in underwriting and reinsurance decisions, embedded within a much larger brokerage.

Broad incumbents

• Arup: International engineering and design consultancy with deep seismic risk, resilience, and catastrophe modeling expertise (Arup Risk and Resilience). Comparable to SPA in probabilistic multi-hazard analysis for insurers, governments, and infrastructure owners, but operating at global scale.
• AECOM: Global engineering and infrastructure consulting firm with a seismic risk and emergency management practice. Comparable to SPA in serving government, utility, and infrastructure clients for hazard assessment, but as one service line within a much broader portfolio.

Emerging players

• Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation: Non-profit consortium developing open seismic hazard and risk models globally; SPA principals Porter and Scawthorn lead global consortia within GEM. Closely comparable on seismic vulnerability methodology and ontology, though structured as a public-good initiative rather than a commercial firm.

Others

• HAZUS (via NIBS / FEMA): FEMA's standardized loss estimation methodology for earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes; SPA integrates HAZUS-MH into ROVER and Scawthorn chairs NIBS's HAZUS Open Source Committee. Comparable as ecosystem infrastructure that SPA both uses and helps evolve.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SPA Risk