Insurtechs raise investments in latest funding rounds

Kenyan insurtech Lami Technologies, the developer of an end-to-end digital insurance platform and application programming interface (API), has raised a US$3.7 million seed extension.

Investments were led by New York-based venture capital firm Harlem Capital, with other investors including Newtown Partners, Peter Bruce-Clark and Caribou Honig, as well as Jay Weintraub of InsureTech Connect and several senior members of Exotix Advisory.

The latest round of funding follows a previous $1.8 million sum raised by the insurtech in 2021, and will be used to support Lami Technologies’ continued expansion and technology development.

Lami will use the funding to hire, fast-track its expansion plans and drive underwriter partnerships.

The company also aims to expand the applications of its solutions to support the digitisation of agents and brokers, as well as traditional insurers, as well as to explore new growth strategies and increase insurance penetration across Africa – a figure which currently flounders at below three per cent. The company recently expanded its operations into Egypt and Nigeria.

Speaking to Techcrunch, Lami’s CEO Jihan Abass explained: “On the technology side we want to cater to the entire insurance ecosystem. So, it’s not only the digital platforms that want to sell insurance products, but also to help existing players be more efficient in their distribution of products, allowing them to play a role in increasing the insurance penetration level. This includes agents and brokers — we are looking into how we can empower them to sell more policies.

Quotech acquires £1 million investments

UK-based insurtech startup Quotech, which creates ‘data-taming’ systems for specialty insurers, brokers and managing general agents (MGA), has announced that it has also achieved a £1-million funding round.

Funding came from a range of investors, including the specialty insurer and reinsurer, the Convex Group, which acquired a 7.7 per cent share in the company in exchange for the investment.

The money will be used to increase staff levels and provide additional resources for the creation of custom-built technology platforms for distributors and underwriters.

“This funding will enable Quotech to move to the next level of success by increasing our reach and extending our capacity, allowing us to provide a larger number of underwriting and broking firms with truly useful technology,” said Guillaume Bonnissent, Quotech’s Chief Executive. “We’ve already expanded our team of systems experts, and we will soon be adding additional personnel and resources to serve more clients. It’s fantastic to receive the vote of confidence that’s implied when a client invests in our vision, after experiencing first hand the power of our approach and the systems we build.”

Insurance platform provider INSTANDA also successfully raised US$45 million in growth fundraising in June 2022, with investments led by Toscafund and investor Dale Ventures.