Firm secures $1.5m funding to drive car insurance penetration in Africa

Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ibraheem Babalola, made this known on Tuesday.

He said, “Starting in Nigeria, 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 three minutes or less and get rewarded for good driving and avoiding accidents.”

Babalola said that 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.

Babalola said that by working with a wide range of automotive value chain players, ETAP would also explore other opportunities to deliver much-needed insurance services for car owners on different continents.

“Despite the longstanding regulation-making car insurance compulsory, more than 100,000 car accidents were 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, buying and claiming insurance happens exclusively on a smartphone, enabling a seamless and enjoyable insurance experience for users,” he said.

He said that 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 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, among others,” he said.

Babalola said that drivers would 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 the artificial intelligence processes they claim based on previously uploaded images,” he said.

Babalola said that the app came with geolocation tags, timestamps and other features to prevent fraudulent claims, crash notifications, emergency support and more.

“Since we launched in November 2021, ETAP has insured more than 130,000 individual trips and over 500,000 kilometres in car journeys, representing more than eight times the total distance of paved roads in Nigeria.

“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.

“This is why we have created Africa’s most powerful car insurance app and we are excited to have raised these funds to bring more users on board,” Babalola said.