South African insurtech company Pineapple closes series A round
South African insurtech company Pineapple has closed a series A round at R80 million (about $5.5million) in total. Notable investors on the ticket are Lireas Holdings, the ASISA ESD Fund, E4E, Vunani Capital and the Old Mutual Enterprise & Supplier Development Fund.
Pineapple launched into the South African market in mid 2018 with the goal of solving the trust issue in insurance. Co-founder Marnus van Heerden says, “Pineapple is on a journey to improve the trust between insurer and insured, by providing superior customer experience backed by cutting edge technology and an innovative model. We operate off a fixed fee and unused premiums are returned to members.”
With Pineapple, customers can insure their car or belongings in under 90 seconds via their app or website. The insurance policies are underwritten by Old Mutual Insure, and founding innovation partner Hannover-Re, continues as reinsurer and strategic partner to Pineapple.
Co-founder Ndabenhle Ngulube attributes the success of the round to the unprecedented growth that they have seen this year. “We did not expect to grow by 200% in the first six months of this year, but it goes to show that customer insurance purchase behaviour is starting to shift online and that customers are becoming more astute as to the online ratings of insurance providers and not settling for second best with respect to customer experience.”
Another co-founder, Sizwe Ndlovu, noted that the funds will be used for the expansion of the South Africa business as well as growing overseas partnerships including the partnership with travelers insurance in the US.
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