insurtech - Afrikan Heroes

South African InsurTech Startup Click2Sure Secures Funding From US-based VC

October 20, 2020

Co-founder Click2Sure, Daniel Guasco, Jacques van Niekerk

Investors from the United States are increasing their footprints in Africa. SixThirty, a US-based tech venture capital fund has made a big bet on South Africa’s InsurTech company Click2Sure. In a statement, SixThirty said it has made a multi-million rand investment in Cape Town-based Click2Sure, marking the first time the VC would be investing in any African startup.

“Another reason we are thrilled to have SixThirty on board is their Go-To-Market Summer programme, where we were introduced to key individuals, executives and other founders well placed in the US market within blue-chip companies, to help us get a foot in the door, and mentor us on what the US market and stakeholders expect to see from a startup and technology partner,” says Guasco.

Here Is What You Need To Know

With the investment, Click2Sure will further develop its product and ensure businesses offering insurance take advantage of the benefits of digitisation: omnichannel distribution, reduction in administration costs, and better decisions with real-time reporting and insights.
With this investment, SixThirty joins Greenlight Reinsurance, another US-based investor, amongst other investors, as capital partners in Click2Sure.
In 2018, Click2Sure secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Greenlight Re Innovations, part of the Nasdaq-listed Greenlight Capital Re.

Why The Investor Invested

SixThirty’s investment in Click2Sure was motivated by a recognition of the surprisingly low penetration of digital distribution in the insurance industry. Along with the forced digitalisation ushered in by COVID-19, SixThirty found Click2Sure’s exclusive focus as an enabler of digital distribution a key differentiator that can help it scale into new sectors and markets.

SixThirty is a venture capital fund and a business development accelerator program that focuses on financial-based technology, InsurTech, and Cybersecurity solutions.

It invests in early-stage enterprise technology companies building.

A Look At What InsurTech Does

Co-founded Click2Sure in 2016 by Daniel Guasco, Jacques van Niekerk, Click2Sure lets customers buy insurance through any digital channel, depending on their preferences. These could be web/mobi channels, WhatsApp, SMS, eCommerce, and QR Codes. This satisfies the modern customer’s need for accessibility, convenience and speed as insurance companies can provide almost immediate coverage via a mobile app for example.

“Click2Sure doesn’t sell insurance. We provide our clients who sell insurance with a comprehensive cloud-based, digital platform for the distribution, management and purchasing of insurance at the point of sale,” explains Guasco.

Digitisation replaces the time-consuming manual process of filling in multiple page policy documents. It also means insurers can get new products to market much faster and diversify their revenue streams.

Guasco, who was previously CEO of Groupon South Africa and the founding director of online group buying website Twangoo, says: “Digitisation has many benefits for consumers; being able to use digital channels increases accessibility for the under- and uninsured, enables customisation of insurance cover, and assists customers in getting the most affordable insurance cover.”

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

South Africa’s Insurtech Startup CompariSure Secures Investment From Local VC

May 18, 2020

CompariSure’s co-founder, Jonathan Elcock

South Africa-based insurtech startup CompariSure has announced today that it has secured venture capital (VC) funding from SA Umkhathi Wethu Ventures in partnership with Allan Gray. The deal comes off the back of CompariSure’s first external investment deal concluded in August last year with SA VC company 4Di Capital (which was not announced to the media at the time).

“This growth capital funding has given us significant runway and will allow us to explore new strategic initiatives, such as new product and industry use-cases for our chatbot, as well as opportunities outside of SA,” said co-founder Jonathan Elcock.

Here Is What You Need To Know

The details of the latest investment, as well as that of the 4Di Capital investment, were not disclosed.
UW Ventures will support CompariSure with its scaling ambitions, including into international markets.
Edgar Loxton, a director at Allan Gray, and 4Di Capital partner Anton Van Vlaanderen will sit on the CompariSure board.
In a statement today, co-founder Matthew Kloos explained that at the time that the original deal was concluded in August last year, 4Di Capital was eager for the insurtech to find another institutional investor to diversify the shareholder base, which is how Umkhathi Wethu (UW) Ventures and Allan Gray came on board.

“In combining 4Di’s deep understanding of insurtech with Allan Gray’s extensive financial services expertise and Ventures’ strategic and business support, we feel our investor base could neither be stronger nor more experienced,” commented Kloos.

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

A Look At What Startup CompariSure Does

CompariSure was founded in 2017 by Jonathan Elcock (a former manager at insurance provider MiWay according to his LinkedIn profile. He was joined subsequently by co-founder Matthew Kloos.
The startup distributes financial services products via its proprietary chatbot technology that leverages platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
CompariSure said it had recently begun licensing out its chatbot technology to insurance providers looking to enhance their own digital capabilities.
The startup has worked with some of South Africa’s top insurance providers, including the likes of Sanlam, Old Mutual, and Momentum Metropolitan.
Elcock said in the same statement, that over 70% of the startup’s sales are concluded without any human engagement, at all hours of the day and night.
Without revealing the figures, he said the startup had seen “record volumes” through the challenging and unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic.
The startup however claims that over 250 000 South Africans from all walks of life have interacted with its chatbot via its online platform.