NIGERIA – Curacel, the African insurance infrastructure startup, has launched Curacel Grow, its API platform to allow technology companies to seamlessly offer insurance across Africa.
Curacel helps insurers and partners in Africa and other emerging markets increase the reach and functionality of insurance through cloud-based tools and APIs.
The Winter 2022 Y Combinator portfolio startup says Grow will bolster the distribution of insurance to millions of Africans through partners like Barter by Flutterwave, Float, Payhippo, and others.
Curacel Grow is designed to integrate seamlessly with any technology platform and allow claims to be submitted and processed in real-time.
The start-up’s API will allow airlines to offer travel insurance to their customers through simple APIs.
It also will enable automotive dealers to seamlessly sell insurance to customers as a value-added service.
Curacel has built its market-leading infrastructure that powers claims and fraud protection for forward-thinking insurers like AXA Mansard and Old Mutual.
“As it becomes easier to access credit and other financial services to enable new experiences, we want to make it easier to protect these experiences and enjoy them with full confidence,” said Henry Mascot, CEO, and co-founder of Curacel.
Mascot added that the success of various technology companies over the years has opened the door to many previously underserved people.
The platform will take advantage of the success to accelerate the penetration of much-needed insurance products across the continent.
The startup aims to leverage its API platform to boost the penetration of insurance in Africa currently standings at less than 3 percent, with most policies sold offline and manually via brokers and agents.
The long tedious process involved makes insurance products expensive and out of reach for many price-sensitive Africans.
As a result, market penetration of insurance products in Africa is half of the global average, and premiums per capita are 11 times lower than the global average.
The insurance industry in Africa also represents less than one percent of insured catastrophe losses worldwide, although it’s home to almost 17 percent of the global population.
With Curacel Grow, insurers can accelerate the distribution of their products by taking advantage of Curacel’s technology to easily embed insurance within other digital experiences in a more accessible way.
Technology companies can also increase their recurring revenue by offering the protection their consumers need without the hassle of finding integration and negotiating terms with insurers and brokers.
The startup has a presence in 8 countries across Africa, enabling insurers to connect with digital distribution channels and administer their claims cost-effectively.
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