South African insurtech startup Inclusivity Solutions has not so much as sold a policy in its home market, but has expanded rapidly across Africa and is targeting expansion even further afield after securing Series A funding.
Launched in 2015, Inclusivity Solutions designs, builds and operates inclusive digital insurance solutions and delivers them through digital channels in partnership with mobile operators, insurance companies and other distribution partners to deliver simple and affordable insurance cover through mobile phones.
Currently the products it has in place are all hospital cash offerings. This means that if a customer of a mobile operator partner spends a certain threshold amount with that operator, the customer automatically qualifies for hospital insurance cover for the following month.
“This is the loyalty cover which does not require the customer to pay a premium. The insurance product offers the customer cash back if they spend three or more days in hospital, and this is deposited into the customer’s mobile money account for them to use as they please. The upsell product is offered to the customer at a small premium and allows the customer to double or triple their cash back or add family members,” Jeremy Leach, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Inclusivity Solutions, explains to Disrupt Africa.
Devilishly simple, and an approach that has taken Inclusivity Solutions international. Though based in Cape Town it has yet to launch a product into the South African market, and has instead focused on building its customer base in Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Rwanda. With more than 600,000 policy registrations across these markets, Leach is pleased with uptake.
Inclusivity, which makes money by taking a small percentage of each premium paid, is now targeting even further expansion. The startup is a fundraising machine, having secured US$2.5 million from Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) to support the initial company setup. In June of this year, meanwhile, it banked US$1.56 million as part of the first tranche of its Series A funding in a round led by Goodwell Investments, which Leach said would be used to grow.
“With our Series A we are focused on scale-up and looking to expand our customer base into other emerging markets such as Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America,” he said.
“Insurance penetration in emerging markets currently resides at only three per cent, leaving 97 per cent of emerging markets consumers vulnerable to risk. Digital insurance helps address the protection gap through the pervasiveness of mobile phones whilst simultaneously offering distribution partners such as mobile operators, banks and insurers the opportunity to attract new customers, retain existing customers and drive new revenue streams.”
