Nigeria’s digital insurance company Casava has secured US$4 million in pre-seed funding to provide affordable and accessible insurance products for millions of Nigerians.
Starting with income protection and health insurance, the insurtech startup is leveraging artificial intelligence and behavioural science to deliver game-changing claims and benefits products. The new funds will support customer acquisition and growth, as well as further development of the product and the technology stack.
The funding round, the largest pre-seed round for an African insurtech to date, was led by Target Global with participation from Entrée Capital, Oliver Jung, Tom Blomfield (Founder of Monzo) and Ed Robinson and Brandon Krieg (Founders of Stash). African founders such as Uche Pedro (Founder of BellaNaija), Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha (Founders of Kuda), Shola Akinlade (Co-founder of Paystack), Olugbenga “GB” Agboola (Co-founder of Flutterwave), Honey Ogundeyi (Founder of Edukoya), Opeyemi Awoyemi (Co-founder of Jobberman) and others also participated in the round.
The startup launched in April 2021 and already has more than 66,000 customers, with $16 million in insurance coverage. Casava is Nigeria’s first licensed microinsurance underwriter, creating insurance products that make it easier for income earners across the country to protect themselves against life’s unforeseen events, including job loss and health emergencies.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, around 20% of workers in Nigeria lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19. With unemployment insurance unavailable in Nigeria, these workers are largely left to their own devices to make ends meet between jobs. With Casava Income Protection, subscribers can insure their income with an easy-to-use subscription that starts from as little as $1 a month, and get paid monthly for 6 months if they lose their job, fall sick or become disabled. Subscribers can also add on Casava Health, which enables access to more than 1,000 doctors on telemedicine and 900 hospitals across Nigeria.
“Our mission is to provide affordable insurance for Nigerians and other Africans and we are happy to have raised these funds from an exciting group of investors, ” said Bode Pedro, Founder and CEO of Casava, “With less than 1% of the country insured, Nigeria (and Africa) is an untapped insurance market. We want to address the barriers that hinder adoption and add value to consumers across the country.”
Consumers can subscribe to Casava’s insurance products directly via the website, mobile app or WhatsApp.
The startup has also announced that it will also be working with fintech and digital partners to embed insurance products into their offerings, accessing over 500,000 financial service agents to reach customers across the country. Casava will empower these agents to offer insurance and earn commissions from the customers from their customers on a recurring basis.
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