Egyptian insurtech innovator, Amenli, has successfully concluded a substantial $1 million equity funding round, with Alter Global at the helm, and support from Qatar Insurance Corporation’s (QIC) corporate VC arm, Digital Venture Partners (DVP). This promising startup, founded in 2020 by Adham Nauman, Omar Ezz El Din, and Shady ElTohfa, has been making waves by tailoring insurance plans for individuals, families, and SMEs in alignment with their specific needs.

The funding injection is set to catapult Amenli into a new growth phase. It will empower the company to amplify its workforce, enhance its product portfolio, and bolster its brand presence in the market.

Alter Global, a distinguished international VC firm focusing on emerging markets, led the funding round with notable enthusiasm. Represented in the region by Heba Ahmad, Alter Global expressed excitement about partnering with Shady and the Amenli team and announced their second investment in Egypt. Allen Taylor, a Partner at Alter Global, articulated their admiration for Amenli’s vision to transform Egypt’s presently underserved insurance sector, where penetration remains below 1%. Taylor remarked that Amenli has already constructed a robust technological infrastructure, providing them with a competitive edge in distribution and product innovation, thereby elevating the insurance experience for both individuals and SMEs.

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Amenli has earned the endorsement of the Financial Regulatory Authority in Egypt (FRA) and has made accessible a wide array of affordable insurance products, catering to individuals, families, and SMEs. Moreover, the company has established smooth channels for handling client claims, ensuring efficiency and expeditious service.

With the infusion of funds, Amenli is gearing up to introduce new products that cater to both existing and emerging customer segments, addressing previously unmet insurance requirements. The company also plans to diversify its distribution channels to maximize efficiency and outreach. Furthermore, Amenli will intensify its focus on the B2B2C sector, leveraging its proprietary Insurance API to solidify its reputation as a trustworthy and innovative leader within the industry, staying true to its 2024 vision.

Lars Gehrmann, Group Chief Digital Officer at Qatar Insurance Company (QIC), commented on the alignment of Amenli’s vision with DVP’s Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) commitment to promoting insurtech innovation through early-stage investments within MENA. He expressed QIC’s eagerness to support Amenli’s growth and inventive approach to insurance in Egypt and beyond.

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Amenli’s decision to secure additional funding coincides with a pivotal moment in the company’s trajectory. They have experienced remarkable growth, expanding fivefold in comparison to the same period in the previous year. This achievement is attributed to their commitment to product quality and the increased efficiency and impact delivered by Amenli’s core platform technology. With strong unit economics across their retail business, which includes services for both individuals and SMEs, they have exceeded targeted gross profit margins by an impressive 100% in H1 2023. Consequently, Amenli is shifting its focus towards business expansion, profitability, and positive cash flow generation.

Shady ElTohfa, CEO and Co-Founder of Amenli, underscored the significance of this strategic milestone, describing the funding round as a substantial validation and a resounding vote of confidence for the company. He emphasized that the backing of prominent investors, including Alter Global, QIC DVP, and Basil Al Moftah, all of whom possess extensive experience in the tech and insurance sectors, reinforces their belief in Amenli’s vision and their ambitious expansion plans.

Othmane Bennis, Head of CVC at DVP, highlighted Amenli’s technological prowess, lauding the company for establishing itself as a prominent insurtech player. Through a tech-driven, digital-first approach and building on their substantial traction in Egypt, Amenli is poised to rapidly expand access to insurance in underserved markets, thereby advancing financial inclusion and security in the region.

Shady ElTohfa also shared his vision for the future, stating, “During the upcoming phase, we are focused on expanding our team, strengthening our product offerings, and building a robust brand to deliver unmatched value to our clients. Our dedicated efforts revolve around providing tailored insurance solutions to our client base, empowering them through accessible payment options such as BNPL, convenient onboarding, and KYC processes, and ensuring a seamless claims process.” Amenli is well-positioned to revolutionize the insurance landscape in Egypt and beyond, and this funding round marks a significant step in that direction.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

Amenli, an Egypt-based startup backed by Y Combinator, has raised $2.3 million in a seed round to provide insurance services to Egyptians. Several local and international firms participated in the round, including co-lead investors P1 Ventures, GFC, and Anim Fund (Founders Fund scout fund), as well as Costanoa VC, Liquid2 Ventures, Cliff Angels, and other angel investors.

“Right now, we are still trying to prove that there is demand in the market for selling insurance because there was no benchmark and we did not know if people would receive the insurance online,” said co-founder and CEO Shady El Tohfa. 

“Everyone would say that in Egypt, people do not want to understand or buy insurance. But what we found is that educated people in the middle-income segment are aware of insurance, understand it and want to buy it, even though it wasn’t accessible to them before.”

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The new money, according to the CEO, will be used to grow the company’s personnel, scale quickly, and attract more clients in a market that is predicted to develop at a CAGR of 7% per year over the next five years.

Why The Investors Invested

Considerable traction and backing from Y Combinator. Amenli was a member of the Y Combinator Summer 2021 program and has progressed rapidly since then. Amenli’s revenue has tripled since graduating from the accelerator, according to Shady El Tohfa, a co-founder at the startup. 

However, while the number of policies has increased, the number of customers has not increased because the same consumers are using several plans. Amenli issues over 500 policies in less than 10 minutes, compared to the insurance industry’s three-week minimum policy issuance. Despite the great results, Amenli’s founders believe the company is on its way to discovering product-market fit.

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Previous experience co-founding a startup was also helpful. Before creating Amenli, El Tohfa and Nauman were members of the founding team of Paymob, an Egyptian fintech startup. In 2017, they also worked on a microfinance program, which introduced them to the concept of insurance for the first time. Their continued research and enthusiasm in the business encouraged them to pursue insurtech full-time. El Tohfa, on the other hand, first began looking at market potential as a result of a series of personal events.

Based in New York, P1 Ventures has actively been investing in the African startup space, investing notably in Kenyan HR startup WorkPay, Nigeria’s OnePipe; Kenya’s Lami Technologies and MarketForce; Nigeria’s VertoFX; Egypt’s Yodawy, among others.

Berlin, Germany-based Global Founders Capital, has invested in notable startups such as LinkedIn, DeliveryHero, Facebook, Slack. The fund is sector-agnostic. The investment in Egypt’s first digital bank, Telda, in May this year is the first investment in any Egyptian startup for Global Founders Capital. 

Based in Palo Alto, California, Costanoa Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in b2b startups.

On the other hand, Liquid 2 Ventures is a San Francisco-based VC that provides technology startups with seed-stage investments. The investor had previously invested in one of Africa’s newest unicorns Chipper Cash. 

A Look At What The Startup Does

Amenli was formed in 2020 by Adham Nauman and Shady El Tohfa to solve Egypt’s $2 billion underserved insurance market. The startup makes its users’ lives easier. Users only have to answer a few questions when they first log onto the Amenli platform. What insurance policies will be proposed to them will be determined on the answers they provide. Amenli has its own infrastructure, offers APIs to other insurers, and its methodology gives rapid quotes.

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The startup is the first Egyptian online insurance firm to be issued an insurance license.

Amenli Egypt Amenli Egypt

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer