Curacel, the YC-backed startup that’s creating insurance coverage infrastructure for the African market, has launched a brand new interface that enables digital companies like these in retail, fintech, e-commerce and logistics so as to add insurance coverage to their core merchandise.
The API-based software, dubbed Develop, has up to now been built-in with 22 tech entities throughout Africa together with Topship, Barter by Flutterwave, Float, Fingo and Payhippo, enabling them to both bundle their primary merchandise with insurance coverage packages or provide insurance coverage as a standalone service. The software can also be offering new progress avenues for insurance coverage suppliers within the journey, well being and automotive sectors by serving to them distribute their merchandise digitally.
By making insurance coverage merchandise available to customers of in style digital applied sciences, Curacel Develop is envisioned to bolster the entry and uptake of insurance coverage in Africa, the place penetration stands at lower than 3% — and 1.2% with out the outsized market of South Africa.
“The chance is very large. And we’re not simply situations the place individuals are shopping for insurance coverage for themselves, we’re additionally transactions which can be insurable — like you’ll be able to bundle loans and life insurance coverage,” stated Curacel CEO and co-founder Henry Mascot, who’s working the startup out of Nigeria.
Mascot’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2017, when he helped hospitals digitize information. Nevertheless, it was not till 2019 that he teamed up with co-founder John Dada (CTO) to construct insurance coverage expertise, beginning with a fraud detection system for a medical insurance firm, a pilot venture that exposed the necessity for extra applied sciences within the insurance coverage market.
“We realized there have been a bunch of issues. Insurance coverage corporations have been shedding some huge cash to fraud. And so we constructed the system for them,” stated Mascot.
Curacel is constructing insurance coverage infrastructure for rising markets. Picture Credit: Curacel
Curacel (YC W22) permits any hospital that has a administration system to attach their system to the startups’ APIs, for seamless integration with insurance coverage corporations and to automate the cost course of. Mascot stated that about 4,000 hospitals and 15 associate insurance coverage corporations, together with Previous Mutual and AXA Mansard, have used their platform and thru their programs processed claims worth to a tune of $25 million.
“We now have constructed infrastructure round insurance coverage that allows the business to work higher from the method of promoting insurance coverage to creating certain that the individuals who even have insurance coverage receives a commission shortly and effectively,” stated Mascot.
The foundational applied sciences Curacel constructed are actually enabling them to construct a product that has potential to succeed in tens of millions of customers throughout the 9 markets they function in, together with Nigeria and Ivory Coast, as they search progress past offering software program to companies. Curacel, which can also be set to enter the Egypt market, raised $450,000 in pre-seed funding final 12 months to fund its enlargement drive.
“There’s a full-stack of expertise that’s required to allow embedded insurance coverage, like reconciliation, cost, reporting and knowledge to make sure that you advocate the proper product to the proper particular person. We began out by constructing API infrastructure, however we’re a powerful expertise firm, which makes it doable for us to ship this product.”
In accordance with a report by McKinsey, insurance coverage in Africa stays a marginal product, with ranges of penetration throughout the continent being half the world common as a proportion of GDP, and premiums per capita being 11 instances decrease than the world common. Regardless of these low numbers, the African market stays the second quickest rising behind Latin America. The continent’s insurance coverage business, which stays extremely fragmented and confronted with the problem of distribution, is at present valued at $68 billion as measured by gross written premiums. Lack of belief attributable to delays or denial because of the guide processing of claims are additionally contributing to the low uptake.
“Individuals do not likely belief insurance coverage corporations as a result of they don’t pay claims as quick as they need to, and this may be tied to the gradual guide course of,” stated Mascot.
“And so, we offer the infrastructure for current insurance coverage corporations and the ecosystem to make them extra environment friendly, and scale quicker to seize the chance in Africa,” he stated.
Curacel now joins a subject that already has a number of insurtechs, together with Lami Applied sciences, which is scaling its API insurance coverage platform within the continent. This comes as smartphone and inexpensive web penetration deepens throughout the continent, offering alternatives for the uptake of digital merchandise and for insurtechs to step in and provide modern merchandise.