• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Nigeria’s fintech on steroids as Curacel raises $450,000

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Curacel, an insurance technology platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI), has raised $450 pre-seed funding to push the total value of deals completed by Nigerian startups to $207.5 million.

It is the biggest funding ever closed in less than 21 days by the ecosystem and surpasses the entire funding record of 2020 by over $30 billion. The list of fundraisers in March includes Flutterwave ($170m); Kuda Bank ($25m); Havenhill ($4.5m); Kwik ($1.7m); Termii ($1.4m); Afriex ($1.2m); Bankly and ($2m).

The Curacel pre-seed raise on Tuesday was led by Atlantica Ventures and Consonance with participation from Kepple Ventures and other African angel investors. The startup plans to deploy the funds into its African expansion project. Curacel is hoping to become the preferred embedded fintech platform of the insurance industry.

The insurtech startup noted that African insurers lose more than $12 billion to fraudulent, wasteful, and abusive claims. Insurance penetration in Africa is at 2.8 percent which means millions of people on the continent do not own an insurance policy. Many Africans, Curacel says, are one accident or health emergency away from poverty. One tragedy can affect a whole community with many people having to make contributions toward medical expenses, burials, or other disaster relief for family members and kin.

Founded in 2010, Curacel works with some of the biggest insurers in Africa such as AXA Mansard, Liberty Health, and Old Mutual as well as over 800 hospitals in Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda, to increase the reach and functionality of insurance through cloud-based tools and APIs.

“At Curacel, we are uniquely positioned to safeguard and increase the quality of life through our unique, market-leading products and services,” Henry Mascot, co-founder and CEO of Curacel said.

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The company plans to launch Curacel Capital, a cash advance product that makes it easier for healthcare providers to access working capital to mitigate financial challenges. This is particularly important because delayed payment and other inefficiencies in the payment process mean many African healthcare providers often have to make the difficult choice between keeping the books balanced and providing healthcare at a loss.

Curacel Capital looks to helping healthcare providers access lump sums of up to three times their average billings, based on claims processed on the Curacel portal, ensuring that they can continue to deliver essential services without undue disruption.

“The African insurance market represents a significant growth opportunity and we are delighted to be partnering with Curacel to drive growth in this sector. “There is an opportunity to create an entirely new market of products and services here and we look forward to supporting the team to improve health outcomes across the continent,” IK Kanu, partner at Atlantica Ventures, said

The $450,000 raise by Curacel continues a trend in which local investors are taking a more active role in the funding of tech startups. Although foreign investors still write the biggest cheques so far, more venture capital firms located in the country are showing more willingness to support founders in the ecosystem.

“We believe the Curacel team has what it takes to be market leaders and we are excited to support them,” Moboloji Adeoye, managing partner at Consonance, said.