In a move to grow its team and drive the adoption of much-needed car insurance in Nigeria and across Africa, Etap, an insurtech startup has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding.
Disclosing this, the company said the new funding will support the roll-out of ETAP’s game-changing app which allows drivers to buy insurance in 90 seconds, complete claims in 3 minutes or less and get rewarded for good driving and avoiding accidents.
According to Etap, the pre-seed funding round was led by Mobility 54 (the Venture Capital arm of Toyota Tsusho and CFAO Group), with participation from Tangerine Insurance, Graph Ventures (invested in Clubhouse), Newmont and other angel investors.
“Just like any other digital service, we believe Nigerians should be able to buy and claim car insurance without having to ‘call a guy. We also believe that rewarding good drivers can be a catalyst for better driving and making our roads safer,” said Ibraheem Babalola, CEO and founder of ETAP.
He said this is why Etap created Africa’s most powerful car insurance app to bring more users on board, adding that too often, the process of buying and claiming insurance in Africa is so out of touch with the everyday reality of most people.
Despite longstanding regulation-making car insurance compulsory and more than 100,000 car accidents reported between January 2019 and December 2021, only one in five cars in Nigeria are currently insured. The complexities of buying and claiming insurance have led to widespread apathy for traditional insurance companies and products, with many car owners opting to go without insurance. With ETAP, the entire process of buying and claiming insurance happens exclusively on a smartphone, enabling a seamless and enjoyable insurance experience for users.
ETAP uses machine learning to build intelligent risk profiles that determine appropriate premiums for each driver, allowing them to achieve lower premiums by driving safely. Using advanced telematics, the driving experience is gamified to improve driving behaviour and drivers can earn Safe Driving Points that can be exchanged for shopping vouchers for the most in-demand retail outlets, fuel, cinema and concert tickets, and other exciting experiences. Drivers also have flexible coverage options, including daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual plans depending on their needs. In the unfortunate event of an accident, they simply need to take a picture of the affected part of the car via the app and artificial intelligence processes the claim based on previously uploaded images. The app comes with geolocation tags, timestamps and other features to prevent fraudulent claims, as well as crash notification, emergency support and more.
