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South African Insurtech Startup Inclusivity Solutions Raises USD 1.5 Million in New Funding Round

October 31, 2023

Impact investor Goodwell Investments has successfully concluded an extension round with Inclusivity Solutions, an award-winning insurtech company specializing in embedded insurance solutions. Goodwell, renowned for funding African enterprises providing essential services to low-income populations, initially led Inclusivity Solutions’ Series A funding round in 2019. This latest extension round, which raised a total of USD 1.5 million, underscores Goodwell’s confidence in Inclusivity Solutions’ ability to revolutionize insurance access in emerging markets.

The investment will bolster Inclusivity Solutions’ expansion efforts, which include plans to operate in a minimum of 12 African markets by the end of 2024. Additionally, the company will continue to invest in its highly acclaimed no-code, open-API platform, facilitating the rapid deployment of a wide range of insurance products for distribution partners and insurers within hours.

Inclusivity Solutions employs technology and strategic partnerships to make affordable insurance accessible to consumers in emerging markets. By integrating straightforward insurance products into platforms and services that consumers already use, they safeguard the lives, health, and businesses of individuals while offering distribution partners, such as mobile operators, banks, and digital platforms, opportunities to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and create new revenue streams.

Goodwell Investments’ Managing Partner, Els Boerhof, expressed their interest in Inclusivity Solutions, stating, “Around the world, including several regions in Africa, access to safe and reliable savings, payments, and loans for underserved groups is finally growing. Yet insurance remains the problem child. Inclusivity Solutions makes insurance easily available and reliable, and thanks to their technology, highly scalable. They are solving an urgent problem, helping people protect themselves from the unforeseen shocks that are often the root cause of poverty and inequality. That is why we invested. In addition, we are pleased to support an organization with a woman at the helm. We don’t see enough funding going there yet.”

The startup serves these underserved populations through partnerships with major African brands, including Britam, FNB, Orange Money, Safaricom, Airtel Africa, and MFS Africa. Alongside its robust technology platform, ASPin, Inclusivity Solutions provides partners with a range of complementary services, including research, product and process design, pricing, analytics, and implementation support.

Dennis Victor Wafula, Head of Insurance and Investments at Airtel Money, Airtel Africa, commended Inclusivity Solutions, saying, “They are omni-present in all the touch points of my business, a fact that I attribute to their high-caliber workforce. They are agile, sensitive, responsive, and have been extremely helpful not only in technology but other aspects of the business. Inclusivity’s 360-degree view of the business is fantastic. Choosing them as a partner is a decision I will take pride in for a very long time.”

Insurtech: Inclusivity Solutions Secures $1.5m Extension Round

With this fresh injection of capital, Inclusivity Solutions aims to expand its partner network further to meet the needs of more individuals and small businesses across the African continent. Indira Gopalakrishna, CEO of Inclusivity Solutions, emphasized the importance of this investment, stating, “We are thrilled to secure this extension round from Goodwell Investments. It is a validation of the pressing need to close the protection gap across the continent and the work Inclusivity Solutions is doing to address this challenge. We already serve over two million customers in eight African markets. The fresh infusion of funds will enable us to serve millions more customers, across new and existing markets.”

Goodwell Investments is an impactful investment firm focused on inclusive growth, providing early-stage equity to high-growth, high-impact businesses delivering essential goods and services to underserved communities in Africa and India. With a presence in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Netherlands, and a track record of over fifteen years, Goodwell demonstrates the ability to simultaneously deliver significant social impact and strong financial returns.

Inclusivity Solutions is an inclusive insurtech recognized as one of the “Inclusive Fintech 50” globally, delivering embedded insurance solutions for emerging Africa by leveraging cutting-edge technology and open APIs.

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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

Barely A Year After, South African Insurance Startup Inclusivity Solutions Raises $1.3m From Goodwell Investments

May 28, 2020

Founder and CEO, Inclusivity Solutions Jeremy Leach

Goodwells Investments is fiercely spreading more of its tentacles across Africa and South Africa’s insurance technology startup Inclusivity Solutions hasn’t even been up to a year (July 2019) since it secured $1.56-million in its Series A round of funding. Announcing a new $1.3-million investment to conclude the second round of its Series-A round of funding, Inclusivity Solutions is pointing to a hopeful future for Africa’s insurance technology companies.

“As the humanitarian and economic disaster that is COVID-19 unfolds, we are reassured that there could not be a more important time for insurance solutions such as ours to play a role in protecting the vulnerable. This investment provides the endorsement and support that we need as an organization to continue our work in designing and scaling products that address the risks that really matter and can play a real role in adding value to consumers, as well as offering a digital-ready solution to insurers during operationally challenging times,” Founder and CEO, Inclusivity Solutions Jeremy Leach said.

Here Is What You Need To Know

Following on from their first tranche investment, the uMunthu fund, managed by Goodwell Investments, led the round with follow-on investment from UW Ventures (in partnership with Allan Gray). MFS Africa, a leading Pan-African fintech company, joined the round as a new investor.
This investment brings the startup’s total Series A round to US$2.6m, not a mathematical error at all when both figures from 2019 ($1.56m) and 2020 ($1.3m) Series A round are added up as Inclusivity Solution’s head of marketing Sharon Robinson had noted that the discrepancy had resulted as $200,000 from first round “was pushed to the second round”.
The startup will use the investment to deepen the company’s footprint within its existing markets, support further international expansion as well as accelerate innovation in the backbone technology platform, ASPin, which underpins the three existing products.
Inclusivity Solutions has already successfully launched digital insurance initiatives in Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda and Kenya, in partnership with Orange, Airtel and Equity Bank’s Equitel respectively.
Collectively a range of hospital cash and simple life products have provided protection to more than 700,000 people, the company said in a statement.

*Core working mechanisms for Inclusivity Solutions*

Why The Investors Invested

Investment influenced by possible profitability from previous investments and fulfillment of a commitment clause to participate in future investments in the startup in order to further retain ownership stake in it.

Reaffirming this, Wim van der Beek, managing partner Goodwell Investments said:

“We are excited to lead this second tranche and make this additional investment from our uMunthu fund, especially in these challenging times. Our investment focus is inclusive growth, and we believe that collaborative insurtech solutions like Inclusivity Solutions are best positioned to reach large numbers of underserved consumers. Their model bridges the insurance protection gap for underserved through products that are designed to be simple, affordable and accessible, even on the most basic mobile phone. It is a perfect fit with our mandate, and we look forward to continue to support Inclusivity Solutions in its next stage of growth.”

Investment influenced by the COVID-19 as many more people scamper to access insurance policies in virus-hit South Africa.

To echo this point, Harry Apostoleris, Director at UW Ventures said:

“We could not think of a more relevant time for this additional support to Inclusivity Solutions to further their mission of designing innovative and inclusive financial products while developing insurance markets to protect and serve vulnerable communities across the developing world. We believe there is a huge opportunity to bring affordable health and life insurance to those communities that may be the most ill-equipped to deal with catastrophes such as COVID-19, and we are excited to partner with Jeremy Leach and his exceptional team to help achieve their ambitions.”

Investment influenced by founder’s long standing existing relationship with investors.

In this regard, Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa said:

“I’ve known the Inclusivity team for many years, and as players in the fintech space ourselves, we have had the opportunity to collaborate with them on a few exciting opportunities. We share a passion for impact through technology, and a drive to innovate and implement. We at MFS Africa are very proud to be part of their next stage of growth.” Okoudjou added, “The investment was made through MFS Africa Frontiers, a vehicle dedicated to exploring Frontier opportunities in the greater fintech ecosystem. Through MFS Africa Frontiers, we invest in select ventures with whom we feel we can go further — and faster — together.”

Read also: Why More South African Startups Have Raised Funds This Year

A Look At What Startup Inclusivity Solutions Does

Founded in 2015 by CEO Jeremy Leach Inclusivity Solutions designs, builds and operates inclusive digital insurance solutions.

Consumers such as primary school teacher, Peter, are now benefiting from these products. Through Riziki Cover, for instance, a product designed and operated by Inclusivity Solutions and delivered through Equitel in Kenya, Peter was able to cover his bills after being hospitalized for five nights.

“Our obsession is to build products that directly meet the needs of consumers, consumers like Peter, and to make them simple to understand and easy to use. With insurance penetration at only 5.5 per cent of the adult population in Kenya, Peter would likely be without insurance today were it not for our innovative products. We are grateful and excited to have the support of these leading investors and partners who share our vision for a world with better protection,” Jeremy Leach said.

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.