South African Insurtech Company Pineapple raised $3.4M in its Series A

Pineapple, a Startup in Africa recently raised a total of $3.4 million in its Series A to continue as an Insurtech Company after growing 200% in the past six months. 

Lireas Holdings, ASISA Enterprise, E4E Africa (a Supplier Development Fund Company), Vunani Capital and Old Mutual Enterprise and Supplier Development Fund are all participating in this round.

Pineapple previously raised $ 400,000 in seed capital from Lireas Holdings in 2017. Founded in 2017 by Matthew Ellen Smith, Ndabenhle Junior Ngulub and Marnus van Heerden, the South African Startup claims to be a flexible, scalable and decentralised insurance partner that provides its members with full insurance coverage.

Smith, Ngulub and Heerden came together in 2016 to find a disruptive model for the reinsurance or insurance sector through a six-month innovation competition hosted by Hannover-Re. 

Pineapple positions itself as a digital financial services Provider, hence, it does not accept insurance payments. The Company has an outsourcing partner, Old Mutual Insurance, that does this. 

Just two years ago, the Company led the US-based Ventureclash challenge. Eleven businesses pitched at a final event for a share of the prize money, and Pineapple stood as first position. 

In 2020, it was added to UK digital transformation platform Sønr and UK insurtech 100 listings.

“We did not expect to grow by 200 per cent in the first six months of this year, but it goes to show that customer insurance purchase behaviour is starting to shift online and that customers are becoming more astute as to the online ratings of insurance providers and not settling for second best with respect to customer experience,”, Ngulub said while giving comments on the recent funding.