Kenyan Insurtech Startup Lami Has Expanded Into Malawi, DRC Following Its Acquisition Of Bluewave, Eyes Rest Of Africa
Kenyan insurtech startup Lami has expanded into Malawi, DRC following its acquisition of Bluewave, eyes rest of Africa
Kenyan insurtech company Lami Technologies has acquired Bluewave Insurance Agency for an undisclosed sum in order to broaden its insurance coverage across the continent of Africa.
South African Adelaide Odhiambo, who created Bluewave Insurance, a second Kenyan company, has joined Lami as the company's head of commercial alliances.
Since its creation in 2016, Bluewave has worked to develop an online platform that allows clients to purchase microinsurance products using a range of channels, including USSD, SMS, WhatsApp chatbots, and web applications. Bluewave is based in Nairobi, Kenya. As part of the new agreement, Lami will include Bluewave's technology into its core platform, thereby expanding its B2B2C capabilities and improving its market reach.
The deal also increased Lami's market reach into Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), both of which are currently served by the Bluewave group of companies. With access to thousands of smallholder farmers in Malawi, Lami, in addition to the 60,000 currently on Bluewave's database, will have an advantage over his competitors.
"One of the things that really excited us about this prospect was the fact that we are all working toward a very similar vision of democratizing access to insurance," Jihan Abass, founder and CEO of Lami Technologies, said in an interview with TechCrunch about the acquisition. "Our visions were strikingly similar," says the author.
In our opinion, Bluewave has developed modules (such as microinsurance products delivered via USSD) that had the potential to considerably enhance our B2B2C services. They've made substantial contributions to the development of claims modules for microinsurance products, among other things. All of these components have the potential to be integrated into the Lami platform's basic functionality. Moreover, we can continue to innovate on top of it and use components of our technology to enhance offers, such as our smart pricing modules, in order to dramatically improve the user experience," Abass added.
Lami is acquiring the company as it prepares to join Nigeria and a number of other North African countries in the coming year. Lami has connections with organizations in Uganda and Tanzania that are not located in Kenya.
The company is looking into other markets this year. "That is our primary goal, which is why this acquisition was so exciting; it provides us with a competitive advantage as we continue to grow," she stated further.
Innovations and extensions of digital services such as Lami's, which enable micropayments, flexible sign-ups, speedy claim processing, and access to a wide range of services via mobile phones, are increasing insurance uptake. Insurance penetration in Africa is less than 3 percent, and when South Africa is omitted from the calculation, coverage drops to a mere 1.2 percent. Lami, a play that premiered in Kenya in 2018, was inspired by Abass's sense of emptiness.
By using a B2B2C approach, Lami collaborates with its underwriting partners to develop unique insurance products for their clients. Lami also streamlines insurance product distribution by utilizing a B2B2C model.
The API provided by the startup enables companies such as banks to sell digital insurance products to their customers, allowing them to reach a larger audience. As a result of the integration of Lami's API with 12 firms from various industries such as logistics, e-commerce, banking and fintech, these companies can now offer a wider range of products to their customers.
Lami has formed partnerships with Sendy, a digital logistics firm, and Kwara, a neo-bank that focuses on credit unions.
Freight carriers in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) can now obtain per-trip transit insurance through the company's partnership with Sendy, and the company's collaboration with Kwara makes insurance products available to the sacco's more than 60,000 members through its partnership with the company.
According to Abbas, as new products and procedures are inspired by technological advancement, the insurance business will be confronted with continual transformation in the direction of more customized products.
According to her, "you're going to see a lot more data-driven pricing that takes risks into consideration."
" Furthermore, I believe it will considerably contribute to making things more inexpensive, as there will be more customized products available. I anticipate we will also see a considerable expansion in the use of artificial intelligence, particularly in the areas of claims processing and pricing."
