By Adedapo Adesanya
ETAP, an insurtech startup that makes it easy to buy and claim insurance, says it has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to drive the adoption of car insurance across Africa.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Mobility 54 (the Venture Capital arm of Toyota Tsusho and CFAO Group), with participation from Tangerine Insurance, Graph Ventures (invested in Clubhouse), Newmont, and other angel investors.
According to its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ibraheem Babalola, the new funding will support the roll-out of ETAP’s game-changing app which allows drivers to buy insurance in 90 seconds, complete claims in three minutes or less and get rewarded for good driving and avoiding accidents.
Mr Babalola said that working with a wide range of automotive value chain players, ETAP would also explore other opportunities to deliver much-needed car insurance services to owners in other countries across the continent.
“In spite of the longstanding regulation, making car insurance compulsory, more than 100,000 car accidents were reported between January 2019 and December 2021, only one in five cars in Nigeria are currently insured.
“The complexities of buying and claiming insurance has led to widespread apathy for traditional insurance companies and products, with many car owners opting to go without insurance.
“With ETAP, the entire process of buying and claiming insurance happens exclusively on a smartphone, enabling a seamless and enjoyable insurance experience for users,” he said.
He said that ETAP uses machine learning to build intelligent risk profiles that determine appropriate premiums for each driver, allowing them to achieve lower premiums by driving safely.
“Using advanced telematics, the experience is gamified to improve driving behaviour and drivers can earn safe driving points that can be exchanged for shopping vouchers for the most in-demand retail outlets, fuel, cinema and concert tickets among others,” he said.
Mr Babalola said that drivers would have flexible coverage options, including daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual plans depending on their needs.
“In the unfortunate event of an accident, they simply need to take a picture of the affected part of the car via the app and the artificial intelligence processes they claim based on previously uploaded images,” he said.
Mr Babalola said that the app came with geolocation tags, timestamps and other features to prevent fraudulent claims, as well as crash notification, emergency support and more.
“Since we launched in November 2021, ETAP has insured more than 130,000 individual trips and over 500,000 kilometres in car journeys, which represents more than eight times the total distance of paved roads in Nigeria.
“Just like any other digital service, we believe Nigerians should be able to buy and claim car insurance without having to ‘call a guy’.
“We also believe that rewarding good drivers can be a catalyst for better driving and making our roads safer.
“This is why we have created Africa’s most powerful car insurance app and we are excited to have raised these funds to bring more users on board,” Babalola said.
He said that many times, the process of buying and claiming insurance in Africa is so out of touch with the everyday reality of most people.
Mr Babalola said that ETAP would change the game and make the process just as enjoyable as any other experience that consumers access on the mobile phone.
On the part of the lead funder, Project Manager at Mobility 54, Mr Yumi Takagi, said, “ETAP is addressing many challenges that impact the automotive experience in Africa and we are excited to support and work with them to bring their innovation to more drivers across the continent.”
Mr Takagi said that he believed ETAP would engage with this important role and revolutionise the automotive insurance industry with its powerful technology.
