Nigerian Insurance Tech Startup, Curacel Secures $450,000 Pre-seed Funding for Africa Expansion

A tech-driven insurance startup in Nigeria, Curacel, has secured a US$450,000 pre-seed funding to facilitate product development and expansion across Africa, Disrupt Africa reports.

The funding led by Atlantica Ventures and Consonance is expected to actualize Curacel’s goal of becoming a leader in providing embedded finance technology for insurance in Africa. Also part of the investment was Kepple Ventures and other African angel investors.

Before the investment, the startup was already working with the biggest insurance companies in Africa, including AXA Mansard, Liberty Health, and Old Mutual, plus more than 800 hospitals in Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda. It plans to expand into 10 new African countries by the end of 2021.

“We are excited to have these investors on board and we are looking forward to partnering with them to drive our vision of improving insurance inclusion across Africa. At Curacel, we are uniquely positioned to safeguard livelihoods and increase the quality of life through our unique, market-leading products and services,” Curacel co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Henry Mascot was quoted as saying.

Founded in 2017, Curacel started out as an electronic health information management system for clinics. Its web web application helped clinics transform their paper records into digital form, managed their records, appointments, patient communications, billing and reporting with an easy to use dashboard.

It later evolved into an AI-powered insurtech that provides automation for insurance claims process, allowing staff to process claims volumes quickly and efficiently, and automatically vets claims to detect fraud, waste and abuse.