Octamile, a Nigerian Insurtech startup, has emerged from stealth mode with $500k pre-seed funding to provide infrastructure solutions to the Nigerian Insurance Industry.
The pre-seed funding was provided by a network of investors led by EchoVC with participation from Fiat Ventures, Kesho VC, Trade X, Verraki Partners, Dale Mathias, Kyle Daley and other local and international Angels.
Founded by Gbenro Dara, Octamile is seeking to add value to the industry by providing ecosystem of services to assist both insurance and non-insurance businesses protect African consumers from financial losses
Africa’s population represents 16.72% of the total world population, according to a United Nations report.
Access to Insurance Initiative – A2ii – (a global partnership working to ensure that the worlds excluded and underserved have access to Insurance); states that insurance allows the worlds excluded and underserved to take control of their lives and reduce their vulnerability against risks. Hence, Insurance is vital to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Africa.
However, a look at the continent tells a different story of how insurance adoption across the continent faces a myriad of issues like poor adoption, age-old traditional insurance stacks, lack of access and ease of access by consumers, and multiple policy issues across the different economic climates.
Octamile believes its insurtech solution will help organisations to build a financially inclusive future for every African on the continent
Here are the solutions that Octamile offers:
Efficient Risk-Assessment
Its Insurtech platform ensures that the risk assessment by African Insurers’ risk for claims processing is backed by data provided from multiple sources to better profile customers and their assets and fast-track a seamless customer experience.
Insurance Distribution for Non-Insurance Businesses
Powered by Octamile’s customisable and flexible APIs, developers and founders of non-Insurance businesses can immediately boost revenues and increase the lifetime value of their existing customers across Africa by adding Insurance by ‘default’ as a feature on a current product or as a standalone product for their customers.
Improved Claims Processing
Octamile’s improved end-to-end claims processing technology helps businesses process claims faster, cheaper, and better. This feature also empowers African Insurance providers to integrate Octamile’s solution into their existing systems that cover First Notification Of Loss (FNOL), remote and touchless inspections, rule-based decision-making, and payments.
Gbenro Dada previously worked as Managing Director of Nigerian Classifieds site, Efritin.com, CEO of Classifieds site, Cheki.com.ng. With his educational background which includes a degree in insurance from the University of Lagos, and being a Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Gbenro believes that he has a lot to offer to the industry.
According to him in an interview with Techcabal, “Having spent the last decade leading and building technology businesses and exploring multiple business models and industries, I believed it was finally time to tackle the big elephant in the room that no one wanted to tackle.”
“Growing up, I had personal experiences of how insurance can positively impact your life and believe every Nigerian and African should have access to the same,” he said. “Our team has identified key areas where we add value and support the growth of the insurance ecosystem with data and technology.”
Over the next months, Octamile’s team of 12 members plans to work closely with its partners, including AXAMansard and FirstBank, to onboard the “dozens of insurers and startups” on the waitlist ready to use its solutions.
