Insurtech boom deepening the uptake of insurance in Africa

Kenya-based Pula is another distinguished insurtech making waves in the continent. It provides small scale farmers with agricultural insurance and digital products, to help mitigate the risk of enduring extreme conditions; assisting small-scale holder farmers to navigate climate risks, improve their farming techniques and boost their revenues. Since its inception in 2015, Pula has impacted 4.3 million farmers across 13 African markets.  

Furthermore, the firm has managed to raise a total of US$6million from global venture capital backers for Africa and Asia expansion. Pula won the ‘Insurtech of the year’ award at the African Insurance Awards. Its growth has enabled it to partner with the World Food Programme, to insure 3.5 million farmers across 10 African countries. 

Into the bargain, Kenya’s Lami Technologies is another acclaimed insurtech company that recently received US$1.8 million pre-seed; with the round led by Accion Venture Lab, AAIC, Future Africa, among others. The company projects to use the seed investment to hire more people, improve its technology and grow its presence across Africa.  

South Africa’s Pineapple, which is a P2P decentralized insurer that gives members fully indemnified insurance coverage; is also renowned in the continent and so is Holland Insurance, which sells car, business, house and funeral insurance. Another leading insurtech company is Octamile, which has recently received pre-seed funding of $500,000 led by EchoVC, with participation from Fiat Venture, Kesho VCs, Trade X and other local and international angels.