By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian digital insurance company, Casava, has secured $4 million in pre-seed funding to provide affordable and accessible insurance products for millions of Nigerians.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Target Global with participation from Entrée Capital, Mr Oliver Jung, Monzo founder Mr Tom Blomfield and Stash founders Mr Ed Robinson and Mr Brandon Krieg.
It also has African founders such as Uche Pedro (founder of BellaNaija), Mr Babs Ogundeyi and Mr Musty Mustapha (co-founders of Kuda), and Mr Shola Akinlade (co-founder of Paystack).
Others include Mr Olugbenga “GB” Agboola (co-founder of Flutterwave), Mr Honey Ogundeyi (founder of Edukoya), Mr Opeyemi Awoyemi (co-founder of Jobberman), among 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 $16 million in insurance coverage with its variety of products.
With Casava Income Protection, subscribers can insure their income with an easy-to-use subscription that starts from as little as $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 customers on a recurring basis.
Speaking on this, Mr Bode Pedro, founder and CEO of Casava said, “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.
“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.”
Adding his input, Mr 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.
Launched in 2021, 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.
