South African startup Click2Sure has launched a digital insurance platform that can be easily integrated into traditional retailers and third party service providers.
Founded by former Groupon SA co-CEO Daniel Guasco, Click2Sure is a digital platform that brokers specialised annex insurances in both the short term and long term spaces. The platform works with a range of insurers to co-develop over 20 lines of insurance.
The startup has developed a range of APIs that enable cross-selling of product insurances directly at the point of sale. The APIs integrate into the checkout process of e-commerce stores, offering a seamless one-click experience for customers.
“The gap in the market was the ability for a retailer or service provider to attach a policy of insurance and a customer to purchase at the point of sale or point of engagement,” Guasco said.
“The market lacks both suitably engineered insurance product offerings and a digital channel to distribute such insurance with ease.”
He said Click2Sure enabled this by solving a number of key problems. Until now, he said, the consumer purchase of insurance has been a confusing, high friction and opaque process dominated by fragmented and physical intermediaries. Click2Sure aims to provide simplicity, transparency and automation to the insurance process through its digital solution that easily presents an offer of insurance in a variety of on-demand environments.
“Click2Sure has developed a range of insurance products that meet specific on demand needs,” Guasco said.
“We have put the consumer first, enabling them to administer and process a claim online in an automated manner and avoiding the need to engage with humans or call centres.”
The startup has been substantially funded by Team Africa Ventures – Guasco and business partner Wayne Gosling’s personal technology investment fund. It also closed a substantial seed round from a group of global angels early this year.
Guasco said Click2Sure had also seen much interest from a variety of both local and global VCs, while the response from potential partners and customers had also been positive.
“We have been overwhelmed with demand from a variety of business partners who wish to integrate our product and distribution platform” he said.
Click2Sure is a global company with emerging markets aspirations, according to its founder.
“We chose to launch in South Africa due to it being a highly regulated market and so great to learn in. Our technology and platform is universal, we merely need to solve to insurance license and distribution in each country we launch into. We have both product and distribution arrangements in process in a number of markets outside of South Africa,” Guasco said.
“The insurance industry is heavily regulated. We are able to earn both a lead generation and in some instances a fee for certain binder functions we fulfill. We aspire to provide better priced insurance that serves an actual customer need while removing costly human and manual functions. In so doing we acquire more customers and generate more revenues.”
The level of regulation also poses some challenges, however.
“Disrupting what is a highly regulated and one of the oldest industries in the world has been a real challenge,” said Guasco.
“In addition, the business model is reliant on a number of moving parts. We have had to challenge and educate traditional big corporate thinking on how the benefits of technology can be integrated, and by doing so ensure a more customer-centric experience, reduce costs and enable a better understanding of risk. We have also had to learn how an entire industry works and what regulations apply.”
