Inclusivity Solutions, a South Africa-based provider of digital insurance services, recently raised USD 1.5 million in an equity round led by Goodwell Investments, a Netherlands-based investor in “inclusive growth” in Africa and India. Inclusivity has distributed insurance policies to 530,000 people via wireless service providers Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Rwanda. The firm plans to use its new cash to grow in these markets as well as to expand to other countries.
The managing partner of Goodwell Investments, Wim van der Beek, said, “…we believe that collaborative insurtech solutions like Inclusivity Solutions are best positioned to reach large numbers of underserved consumers” because of their “products that are designed to be simple, affordable and accessible, even on the most basic mobile phone.”
In addition to Goodwell, which is investing in Inclusivity for the first time, South Africa-based Allan Gray is joining as a first-time investor, and US-based RGAx is increasing its stake in the firm. The sizes of each investment, as well as the identities of the participating angel investors, remain undisclosed.
Allan Gray is an investment manager with offices in six African countries and Australia. Its funds include the Allan Gray Africa Equity Fund, which has a volume of USD 250 million; the Africa ex-SA Bond Fund, which has a volume of USD 473 million; the Africa ex-SA Equity Fund, which has a volume of USD 357 million; six South African unit trusts; and four Australian funds.
RGAx is a subsidiary of the US-based Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) that seeks “exciting new opportunities, expanding the footprint of the life insurance ecosystem, and accelerating the development of new solutions…”. RGA provides “life reinsurance, living benefits reinsurance, group reinsurance, health reinsurance, financial solutions, facultative underwriting, and product development.” It reports reinsurance contracts totaling USD 3.3 trillion and USD 65 billion in assets as of 2018.
Goodwell Investments, which has offices in the Netherlands and South Africa, invests in agribusiness and companies serving people with low incomes. Over its history of approximately 10 years, it has raised approximately EUR 100 million (USD 110 million). It is disbursing its investment in Inclusivity from its uMunthu fund, which targets technology-based services relating to financial inclusion and agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sources and Additional Resources
Goodwell press release
https://www.goodwell.nl/news/goodwell-takes-share-of-inclusivity-in-us1-56-million-series-a-round/
Inclusivity homepage
http://inclusivitysolutions.com/
Allan Gray Life homepage
https://www.allangray.com/
RGAx homepage
https://www.rgax.com/
RGA homepage
https://www.rgare.com/
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