Africa’s Insurtech Revolution: 7 Startups Transforming Customer Experience in Insurance

Africa’s insurance sector is undergoing a structural shift. Traditional models have struggled to reach vast swaths of the population due to fragmented distribution channels, low financial literacy, and costly manual processes. Insurance penetration across much of the continent remains among the lowest globally, constraining financial resilience for households and businesses alike.

Driven by a burgeoning startup ecosystem and increasing digital adoption, a new generation of insurtech companies is using data-driven systems and automation to address these barriers. Together, these ventures are reshaping how policies are designed, sold, administered, and serviced across African markets.

Curacel (Nigeria) – Infrastructure for Smarter Claims and Fraud Detection

Founded by Henry Mascot and John Dada, Curacel began as a claims automation platform and has evolved into a key insurance infrastructure provider for insurers throughout Africa. Its technology automates claims workflows, helps detect and mitigate fraud, and enables real-time policy servicing through cloud-based APIs integrated with carriers like AXA Mansard and Liberty Health.

Recent expansions include partnerships that digitise motor insurance inspections using guided video capture and computer vision, reducing turnaround time for policy issuance and claims assessments.

Curacel’s focus on back-end systems illustrates how embedded software can improve insurer operational efficiency and, by extension, customer experience by cutting processing times and increasing transparency.

Pineapple (South Africa) – App-First Peer-to-Peer Insurance

One of South Africa’s notable digital insurers, Pineapple was co-founded by Marnus van Heerden, Matthew Elan Smith, Ndabenhle Junior Ngulube, and Sizwe Ndlovu. Leveraging mobile apps and automated risk assessment, Pineapple enables consumers to insure items like gadgets and household goods quickly and manage policies without paperwork.

Its model emphasises transparency and community pooling of premiums, intentionally simplifying pricing and claims interactions via digital interfaces. While not exclusively an “AI” company, its data-oriented underwriting and instant, app-based issuance reflect broader digital shifts in customer experience.

Turaco (Kenya) – Microinsurance Across Borders

Kenyan insurtech Turaco was co-founded by Ted Pantone and Peter Grossman with a mission to deliver simple, affordable insurance products to previously underserved customers. Through mobile distribution channels and embedded partnerships with banks, telcos, and fintechs, Turaco offers health, life, and asset insurance across Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria. The company has grown its customer base to millions, underscoring the demand for accessible risk protection.

Turaco’s use of analytics and machine learning to tailor products and streamline claims plays into a broader trend of embedding intelligent processes into distribution and service delivery.

MyCover.ai (Nigeria) – Open Insurance APIs for Embedded Experiences

Nigerian startup MyCover.ai was established in 2021 by Adebowale Banjo, Alexander Igwe-Ifendu, and Fred Ebho. Built as an open insurance API platform, MyCover.ai allows businesses across sectors, from logistics and e-commerce to ride-hailing and fintech, to embed insurance products directly into their offerings.

Rather than drawing customers to insurers, it brings coverage to where customers already transact and interact digitally. By using automated claims management and integrated policy issuance, the platform aims to improve customer journeys both for partner businesses and end users, addressing persistent pain points in distribution and service quality.

Pula (Kenya) – Agricultural Insurance Through Data and Partnerships

Founded by Thomas Njeru and Rose Goslinga, Pula focuses on agricultural insurance for smallholder farmers — a segment historically excluded from traditional risk markets. Leveraging satellite data, parametric models and machine learning, Pula designs and prices crop and livestock insurance that protects farmers against weather shocks, pests, and other disruptions.

It embeds coverage within farm inputs or credit products through partnerships with banks, NGOs, and governments. This model demonstrates how insurtech can address structural gaps by aligning insurance with existing economic activities and digital data sources, making risk protection more relevant and accessible.

Inclusivity Solutions (South Africa) – Embedded Insurance for Partners

Led by Jeremy Leach, Inclusivity Solutions has developed a digital insurance platform that enables partners such as banks, mobile operators, and fintechs to integrate insurance products into their services. Its ASPin technology supports automated onboarding, policy administration, and claims processes that improve user engagement and reduce friction in customer interactions.

Rather than competing directly for retail customers, Inclusivity Solutions equips distribution partners with the tools to offer tailored insurance experiences at scale.

MAE Assurances (Tunisia) – Conversational Assistance for Policyholders

MAE Assurances, or Mutuelle Assurance de l’Enseignement, is a Tunisian mutual insurer with roots stretching back decades but increasingly modernising its customer interfaces. Recently, the company integrated an intelligent conversational assistant designed to provide immediate answers to policy questions, guide users through administrative tasks, and improve service responsiveness.

This represents a blending of longstanding mutual values with contemporary digital tools that personalise and accelerate customer support. Unlike pure insurtech startups, MAE’s innovation demonstrates how legacy insurers can lift customer experience by adopting intelligent agents and automation.

Bridging Inclusion and Customer Centricity

Across these varied ventures, there is a pattern beyond mere technology adoption. Startups are seeking to confront foundational constraints in African insurance, such as limited physical access, opaque pricing, slow manual processes, and low trust. Whether through embedded APIs, parametric models informed by satellite or actuarial data, or intelligent support systems, these innovations share a commitment to smoother, faster, and more transparent interactions between insurers and insured.

The emergence of these models also suggests a gradual reconfiguration of insurance ecosystems in African markets — one where digital infrastructure, partnerships, and data-driven processes allow companies to serve customers hitherto seen as too costly or complex to insure. While challenges around regulatory alignment, affordability, and financial literacy remain, the expanding trail of customer experiences shaped by these startups indicates a shift toward more inclusive and responsive insurance markets across the continent.