South African insurtech startup Naked Insurance has landed ZAR20m ($1.4m) in funding?as it plans to launch into the market next year.
The funding came from Hollard, South Africa largest privately-owned insurance group, and private investment firm Yellowwoods. The startup is aiming to use technology to transform the insurance business model to give customers a faster, fairer and more flexible insurance experience. Naked is led by Alex Thomson and Sumari? Greybe, formerly partners in EY insurance advisory business, advising many of South Africa largest insurance groups.
Thomson said, ?Our work revealed the many very real reasons a typical insurer cant deliver insurance that appropriate for the times were in. The only way to do things differently was to get out of the system, start from scratch, and build a business model and technology to deliver a new generation of insurance.
?It is time for insurance to adapt to current times, technology, and social standards, and offer the kind of transparency and trust that consumers expect from a financial services provider.Along with the new funding, Naked has also revealed that it has appointed outgoing Hollard group CEO Nic Kohler to its board of directors.
The Hollard Insurance Group includes the Hollard Insurance Company, Hollard Life Assurance Company, and Hollard Investment Managers. Established in 1980, the group provides short-term and life insurance as well as investment products to a diverse customer base including individual consumers, commercial entities, and corporate clients.
Yellowwoods is a private investments group, headquartered in Europe and active across 30 markets, with a focus on the insurance, restaurant and hospitality sectors.
More-than $1.44bn was invested across 90 insurtech deals last year according to data by FinTech Global. In the first quarters of 2017, a total of $1.02bn has been invested across 72 deals.
Copyright ? 2017 FinTech Global
