Octamile, an Insurtech company enabling insurers and non-insurance businesses to protect African consumers from financial losses, has raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding.
The round was led by EchoVC with participation from Fiat Ventures, Kesho VC, Trade X, Verraki Partners, Dale Mathias, Kyle Daley (Founding team member of Chime), and other local and international Angels.
The company plans to work closely with its partners, which include AXAMansard and FirstBank, and onboard the dozens of insurers and startups on the waitlist ready to leverage the power of our solutions.
What Octamile does
Speaking on the launch, the Founder and CEO of Octamile, Gbenro Dara, said that, “Insurance is one sector that has the power to elevate the economy, but only about 5 out of 100 Africans have any form of insurance protection. The industry laggs behind in the use of technology to deliver better products and services.”
Octamile believes in simplifying access to and reducing friction in the insurance experience so as to protect Africans from financial loss.
Their digital insurance solution enables non-insurance businesses to offer Insurance as a feature in their already existing products.
For Insurance providers, the company is powering them with the data and technology to improve customer experience, reduce administrative costs and optimise the profitability of their insurance portfolio.
In an interview with Nairametrics, Dara highlighted the biggest misconceptions that people have about insurance. He said, “There is a misconstrued assumption that insurers don’t want to pay claims. It is rather a case of both business and technology infrastructure limitations to provide transparent and speedy services. Our claims fast track solutions, significantly improve the overall claims experience for our partners, reducing it from as much as 30 days to instant payout.”
“Insurance is a necessity. Life is full of risks and uncertainties. I’ve personally seen the impact of having an insurance policy where it helped mitigate the impact of a badly damaged car which was an income source. It also comes with peace of mind knowing you have invested in an unforeseen event, he added.
Insurtech penetration is still relatively low in Nigeria and to acquire more customers Dara believes that it is about tailoring solutions to what consumers want, when they want it, and how they need it.
He highlighted that they are focused on partnerships with Insurers and non-Insurance businesses enabling them with an improved experience.
Speaking on the areas of Insurance that they cover; the company is currently focused on auto insurance.
According to Dara, “We are focused on every sector of the Insurance industry. However, auto insurance is a vast market and our current focus as of launch. In Nigeria, there are approximately 15 million cars on our roads. As we interact with our partners, we will build more solutions that meet their digital needs or use basis across all classes of insurance.
In terms of being different from other insurtech startups in the African market, Dara noted that Octamile is an enabler of all players in the ecosystem. “We focus on building custom solutions for our various partners and customer groups”.
