Curacel, a Delaware-based insurance infrastructure provider, has raised $3 million in a seed funding round.
The seed funding round included Tencent (backed Oxbotica and Lilium), AAF Management (invested in Sure, Flutterwave), Elefund (invested in Robinhood, Pie Insurance, and Sure), Blue Point Capital Partners, Pioneer Fund, Olive Tree Capital, and Y Combinator, as well as James Park (CEO of Fitbit), Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola (CEO of Flutterwave), Babs Ogundeyi (CEO of Kuda) and other strategic investors.
As a part of the funding round, top executives from Covergenius, Zopper, and Pie Insurance will join Curacel’s advisory board.
Starting with Egypt and Morocco, the new funding will enable the company to roll out its services in North Africa and deepen its presence in other parts of the continent.
A fast-growing population, rising middle-class families, and growing access to financial services across the continent, means Africans now have the possibility of experiencing a range of products and services, from buying cars to accessing accommodation.
However, these experiences come with various risks, and insurance companies play a huge role in making it easier to manage the risks and enjoy these experiences with confidence.
Since the insurance penetration across the continent is under 3 percent, many Africans have to take on these entirely by themselves.
At the same time, the paper-based approach and antiquated technology can be time-consuming, unduly expensive, and prone to fraud and waste.
Curacel claims that African insurers lose more than $12 billion per year to fraudulent, wasteful, and abusive claims.
Henry Mascot, CEO and co-founder of Curacel, “We are bullish on the potential of the right technology in the right places to close the protection gap across Africa and emerging markets. It is an exciting time for us as we secure the capital to deliver the vision and onboard the people who have built these technologies at scale in more mature markets, and we are looking forward to delivering more technology solutions to drive up insurance inclusion.”
Making insurance less intimidating
Henry Mascot and John Dada founded Curacel, an insurance infrastructure company that provides insurers with simple-to-use technology solutions aimed at increasing insurance inclusion on the continent.
These solutions assist insurers in distributing their products, automating their claims processes, and generating revenue growth.
Leading insurers like AXA Mansard, Liberty Health, Old Mutual and Jubilee Heath also leverage Curacel’s market leading technology to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their claims processes.
The company’s AI-powered infrastructure enables real-time claim submission and processing, allowing insurers to process up to 10 times more claims while cutting their claims cycle by more than 70%.
Curacel has processed more than $100 million worth of claims, working with more than 20 insurers and more than 5,000 service providers in 8 countries across the continent.
In 2022, Curacel grew its transaction volume by 600% and increased its revenue by 500%.
Omar Darwazah, Managing Director and General Partner at AAF Management, said “at less than 3%, the insurance penetration rate in Africa is one of the lowest in the world, presenting an incredible market opportunity for Henry and the team at Curacel to bridge that insurance gap. We are excited to participate in the company’s Seed round and join Curacel’s mission in building easy-to-use technology solutions for insurers to distribute their products on the continent.”
Serik Kaldykulov, General Partner at Elefund, said “Africa remains a relatively untapped market when it comes to insurance and technology presents the best opportunity to reach new users and deliver excellent services. Curacel has built a suite of solutions and an impressive track record of success that makes us very excited to be supporting them on their mission to use technology to drive up insurance inclusion in Africa.”
