Casava, Nigeria’s first 100 per cent digital insurance company, has secured US$4 million in pre-seed funding to provide affordable and accessible insurance products for millions of Nigerians.
Launched last year, Casava aims to make insurance affordable for income earners by leveraging technology, behavioural science and empathy. The startup is a vertically integrated company with a wholly-owned microinsurance carrier in Nigeria and a full technology stack to power it.
The US$4 million pre-seed funding round was led by Target Global with participation from Entrée Capital, Oliver Jung, Monzo founder Tom Blomfield and Stash founders Ed Robinson and Brandon Krieg. African founders such as Uche Pedro (founder of BellaNaija), Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha (co-founders of Kuda), Shola Akinlade (co-founder of Paystack), Olugbenga “GB” Agboola (co-founder of Flutterwave), Honey Ogundeyi (founder of Edukoya), Opeyemi Awoyemi (co-founder of Jobberman), and others also participated in the round.
The new funds will support customer acquisition and growth, as well as further development of the product and the technology stack. Casava already has more than 66,000 customers, with US$16 million in insurance coverage. With Casava Income Protection, subscribers can insure their income with an easy-to-use subscription that starts from as little as US$1 a month, and get paid monthly for six months if they lose their job, fall sick or become disabled. Subscribers can also add on Casava Health, which enables access to more than 1,000 doctors on telemedicine and 900 hospitals across Nigeria.
Consumers can subscribe to Casava’s insurance products directly via the website, mobile app or WhatsApp. It will also be working with fintech and digital partners to embed insurance products into their offerings, accessing over 500,000 financial service agents to reach customers across the country. Casava will empower these agents to offer insurance and earn commissions from the customers from their customers on a recurring basis.
“Our mission is to provide affordable insurance for Nigerians and other Africans and we are happy to have raised these funds from an exciting group of investors, “ said Bode Pedro, founder and CEO of Casava, “With less than one per cent of the country insured, Nigeria (and Africa) is an untapped insurance market. We want to address the barriers that hinder adoption and add value to consumers across the country.”
Dr Ricardo Schäfer, a partner at Target Global said Casava had recognised a great opportunity to address a longstanding problem for many Nigerians and Africans.
“We are excited to support their mission to make insurance more accessible. One of the first of their kind in the region, Casava has the potential to transform the lives and livelihood of millions of people,” he said.
