Nigerian insurtech ETAP bags major AIICO deal

STARTUP VENTURE CAPITALOctober 2, 2023 at 12:27 PM UTC

Nigerian insurtech startup ETAP, specializing in simplifying car insurance purchases and claims, has joined forces with the prominent insurance firm AIICO Insurance to promote the expansion of car insurance coverage in Nigeria.

ETAP, launched in November 2021, has already insured hundreds of thousands of individual trips. In April of the following year, it secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to enhance its team and advance the adoption of car insurance solutions throughout Africa. On the other hand, AIICO Insurance is a well-known name in Nigeria's insurance landscape, offering life and health insurance, general insurance, and investment management services to safeguard and generate wealth for individuals, families, and corporate clients.

This partnership leverages AIICO's leading car insurance product and ETAP's innovative tech-driven distribution and customer acquisition approach to facilitate the much-needed expansion of car insurance coverage in Nigeria.

Key Takeaways

The rapid expansion of digital and mobile services has brought along with it the transformation of insurance services in Africa with insurtech (insurance + technology) startups leveraging technology to overcome the historically low penetration rates of insurance products across the continent. As there are plenty of large multinational and national insurers in Africa, which lessens the need for startups to pursue legacy business models, most startups focus on the access to, and distribution of insurance products, rather than actually offering insurance as underwriters themselves. They build products to help traditional insurers, banks or other businesses ramp up existing insurance lines or create new ones that function as added revenue streams, increasing product adoption for the main service.