Nigerian insurtech platform Curacel has raised $3 million in seed funding as it plans to expand its operations into North Africa, starting with Egypt and Morocco.
The startup aims to drive insurance penetration in emerging markets via APIs enabling insurers to connect with digital distribution channels and administer their claims. The seed funding round included many local and global investors.
Speaking on the recent funds raised, Curacel Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Henry Mascot disclosed that the startup is looking forward to delivering more technology solutions to drive up insurance inclusion.
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In his words, “We are bullish on the potential of the right technology in the right places to close the protection gap across Africa and emerging markets.
“It is an exciting time for us as we secure the capital to deliver the vision and onboard the people who have built these technologies at scale in more mature markets, and we are looking forward to delivering more technology solutions to drive up insurance inclusion.”
Founded in 2019 by John Dada and Henry Mascot, Curacel is an AI-powered platform for claims processing and fraud management. It automates the insurance claims process, allowing staff to process claims volumes quickly and efficiently, and automatically vets claim to detect fraud, waste, and abuse.
Many insurers’ processes in Africa are time-consuming, expensive, and prone to fraud and waste because they use paper and antiquated technology, which has resulted in billions lost by African Insurers yearly to fraudulent practices.
Hence insurtech startup Curacel is focused on providing technology to help insurers mitigate losses while digitizing and settling more legitimate claims. The company’s co-founder Henry Mascost in an interview stated that in late 2019, Curacel started solving a problem for health insurance companies around the infrastructure for digitizing claims.
The startup is building the rails to make insurance work for the next billions of Africans and empowering businesses everywhere with the technology to embed insurance for their users.
With Grow, Curacel’s embedded insurance product, more than 100 banks, fintechs, logistics companies, and other tech-enabled companies, including ALAT (Nigeria’s first digital bank), Palmpay, Float, Providus, etc, are empowered to increase their recurring revenues by offering digital insurance products that are seamlessly embedded into their existing products and services, driving much-needed insurance penetration and customer loyalty.
The startup has processed more than $100 million worth of claims, working with more than 20 insurers and more than 5 000 service providers in 8 countries across the continent. In 2022, it grew its transaction volume by 600% and increased its revenue by 500%.