Naked has raised $38 million (about R700 million) in its latest funding round, which it says it will use to boost its growth and expansion plans in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Series B2 funding round saw new funding from global impact investor BlueOrchard, as well as increased funding from existing backers Hollard, Yellowwoods, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Germany’s development finance institution (DEG).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naked was launched in 2018 by actuaries Alex Thomson, Sumari\u00e9 Greybe, and Ernest North and sells insurance through a fully digital platform that uses AI and automation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The app enables customers to obtain final insurance quotes in under 90 seconds, buy cover online, submit claims, or pause accident coverage without the need for phone calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naked has grown rapidly at scale because it sells 100% of its car, home, and single-item insurance policies without human intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added that its proprietary technology leads to convenience and cost savings for customers and enhances risk selection and pricing to ensure profitable unit economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group also says its novel business model sets it apart, where it takes a fixed percentage of premiums and donates any surplus from unclaimed funds to causes chosen by its customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naked said that this structure eliminates conflicts of interest when it comes to claims processing, which “fosters trust by ensuring valid claims are handled fairly and promptly”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new roughly R700 million in funding is set to fuel Naked’s growth by further investing in automation and AI, product and market expansion, and enhancing advertising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funds will also be used to meet the regulatory capital requirements tied to the rapid growth and evolution of Naked\u2019s business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis investment marks an exciting milestone as we continue to define a new category of insurance,\u201d says Alex Thomson, co-founder of Naked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a strong vote of confidence from both our existing shareholders and our new investor, BlueOrchard.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Their support validates the success of our business model and highlights the significant progress we\u2019ve made in making insurance more accessible and convenient.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Building off the base of a loyal community and unique technology platform, we are positioned for strong growth in the years ahead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BlueOrchard added that the investment aligns with its goal of leveraging digital innovation to enhance financial inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNaked\u2019s focus on using technology to expand access to insurance fits perfectly with our InsuResilience Investment Fund strategy,\u201d said Richard Hardy, Private Equity Investment Director for Africa at BlueOrchard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis funding will help Naked broaden its reach and develop new products that strengthen the financial resilience of its customers.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Naked has recieved R700 million in Series B2 funding, with the group set to invest heavily in AI and automation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":665051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[21484,21483,10028,12806,12971,16150],"class_list":["post-807810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-blueorchard","tag-deg","tag-hollard","tag-ifc","tag-naked","tag-yellowwoods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807810"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":807825,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807810\/revisions\/807825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}