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  The expanding population, growing middle class, and improving access to financial services throughout Africa have increased the opportunity for Africans to enjoy a broader range of products and services. These experiences may come with risks, such as those associated with purchasing vehicles or obtaining accommodation. Insurance companies can significantly mitigate these risks and enable people to enjoy these experiences confidently. However, insurance penetration in Africa is still less than 3%, which means that many Africans must assume these risks independently.
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Furthermore, many insurers still use paper-based processes and outdated technology, leading to time-consuming and costly procedures that are prone to fraud and waste. The African insurance industry experiences a loss of over $12 billion annually due to fraudulent, wasteful, and abusive claims. This has resulted in many insurers being cautious and risk-averse in selecting their customers. Numerous insurtech companies in Africa are creating structures to address the aforementioned problems. One such company, Curacel, which is located in Nigeria, has acquired $3 million in seed funding to release new technological solutions intended to fuel the next wave of insurance experiences in Africa. In 2021, the company secured a pre-seed investment of $450,000, bringing its total disclosed funding to $3.45 million. According to a statement released to Connectnigeria.com, the recent investment will facilitate the company’s extension to North Africa, beginning with Egypt and Morocco.
“We are bullish on the potential of the right technology in the right places to close the protection gap across Africa and emerging markets. It is an exciting time for us as we secure the capital to deliver the vision and onboard the people who have built these technologies at scale in more mature markets, and we are looking forward to delivering more technology solutions to drive up insurance inclusion,”
Henry Mascot, CEO and co-founder of Curacel, said in the statement.
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In the seed funding round, Curacel secured investments from Tencent, AAF Management (an investor in companies such as Sure and Flutterwave), Elefund (an investor in Robinhood, Pie Insurance, and Sure), Blue Point Capital Partners, Pioneer Fund, Olive Tree Capital, Y Combinator, and strategic investors such as James Park (CEO of Fitbit), Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola (CEO of Flutterwave), and Babs Ogundeyi (CEO of Kuda). Furthermore, top executives from Covergenius, Zopper, and Pie Insurance will be part of Curacel’s advisory board as part of the funding round.
“Africa remains a relatively untapped market when it comes to insurance and technology presents the best opportunity to reach new users and deliver excellent services. Curacel has built a suite of solutions and an impressive track record of success that makes us very excited to be supporting them on their mission to use technology to drive up insurance inclusion in Africa,”
Serik Kaldykulov, General Partner at Elefund, added. Curacel offers insurance companies technology solutions that make it simpler to distribute their products, automate claims processes and increase revenue growth, all while driving insurance inclusion in Africa. Curacel’s embedded insurance product, Grow, enables more than 100 banks, fintech, logistics companies, and other tech-enabled businesses to offer digital insurance products embedded seamlessly into their existing products and services, thereby increasing recurring revenues and customer loyalty. Leading insurers such as AXA Mansard, Liberty Health, Old Mutual, and Jubilee Heath also use Curacel’s technology to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their claims processes. Curacel’s AI-powered infrastructure reduces the claims cycle by over 70% and increases claims processing by up to 10 times. Curacel has worked with more than 20 insurers and more than 5,000 service providers in eight countries on the continent, processing over $100 million worth of claims since its launch in 2019. Curacel grew its transaction volume by 600% and increased its revenue by 500% in 2022.
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“At less than 3%, the insurance penetration rate in Africa is one of the lowest in the world, presenting an incredible market opportunity for Henry and the team at Curacel to bridge that insurance gap,”
Omar Darwazah, Managing Director and General Partner at AAF Management said,
“We are excited to participate in the company’s Seed round and join Curacel’s mission of building easy-to-use technology solutions for insurers to distribute their products on the continent.”
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This article was first published on 16th February 2023

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

Comments (1)

One thought on “Nigeria’s Curacel Raises Funds for Insurance Offerings”

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