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Lami Technologies, an insurance technology startup led by Kenyan businesswoman Jihan Abass, has raised $3.7 million in a seed extension round led by Harlem Capital, a New York-based venture capital firm, as it seeks to expand its insurtech products across Africa.
The round was also supported by early-stage venture capital firm Newtown Partners, as well as angel investors such as Peter Bruce-Clark, a partner at Social Impact Capital, Caribou Honig and Jay Weintraub of InsureTech Connect, and senior members of Exotix Advisory.
The $3.7-million capital injection from investors, which will be used to expand the startup’s operations and infrastructure, follows the $1.8 million that it received from its seed funding round last year, bringing the total funding from investors to $5.5 million.
According to Lami Founder and CEO Jihan Abass, the additional funding secured from investors will be used for business, product and technology development, and expansion to other countries like Egypt, Nigeria, and Uganda.
“Lami is pioneering innovation in the insurance sector, and we are glad to have secured the right partners to help drive insurance uptake across Africa,” she said. “We are looking to make insurance easily accessible to everyone on the continent, and we will continually be unveiling more products that confirm this resolve.”
Harlem Capital Principal Gabby Cazeau said the next wave of fintech will embed financial products and services such as insurance into a customer’s purchase experience, and Lami’s approach to serving people through strategic partners in e-commerce and finance is the best way to build trust with users and deliver insurance to Africans across the continent in a seamless and accessible way.
Abass founded Lami in 2018 with the aim of democratizing insurance products and services for low-income Africans by providing convenient and affordable policies that reach the bottom of the pyramid.
As part of its efforts to bridge Africa’s insurance penetration gap through strategies and technologies that make insurance affordable through “bite-sized” premiums, the startup earlier this year acquired Bluewave Insurance Agency, another insurtech startup that uses mobile technology to reach the underserved population and tap into Africa’s insurance gap.
Abass stated that the acquisition of Bluewave, a startup founded in 2016 by Adelaide Odhiambo, aligns with the firm’s mission to break the three-percent insurance penetration barrier in Africa.
