Nigerian insurtech startup, ETAP has entered into a partnership with frontline insurance firm, AIICO Insurance which will make it easier for Nigerians to to buy car insurance and make claims, driving increased penetration of car insurance in the country.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ETAP, Ibraheem Babalola, who announced the partnership with AIICO, said with the new arrangement, buying and claiming on car insurance would be as easy as “taking a picture, providing drivers with access to a range of daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly plans to choose from.”

“We are proud to collaborate with AIICO Insurance on this transformative collaboration,” Babalola said.

“The app’s ability to reward safe driving habits while providing rewards for doing so as well as quick access to insurance purchase and claims payment will undoubtedly empower car owners and encourage responsible behaviour on the roads.

“We invite everyone to download the app from Apple App Store or Google Play Store and experience a new dimension of driving,” he added.

Also commenting on the partnership, Gbenga Ilori, head of retail business of AIICO Insurance, said:

“We are elated to unveil our collaboration with ETAP, marking the inception of a transformative era in car insurance. By harnessing the power of gamification, we are poised to shift perceptions around car ownership and driving in Nigeria.

“This initiative will not only elevate the driving journey but also significantly enhance safety on our roads”.

The ETAP app uses machine learning to build intelligent risk profiles that determine appropriate premiums for each driver, allowing them to achieve lower premiums by driving safely, the company said.

By using advanced telematics, the driving 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, and other exciting experiences, the company added.

South African venture capital firm, Sencha Capital, has closed an initial funding round of $15.7 millon from a targeted fund of $34 million from a group of investors including RMB Ventures, 27four Investment Managers, the SA SME Fund, and Caleo Capital.

Founding partner, Nombuso Nkambule who made the announcement on Saturday, said the fund was targeting wider investments in traditional companies across different sectors in the southern Africa region making the tech-enabled transition into the green economy.

“The new fund has already made four investments in iG3N, Cultura Fresh, Herbivore and FarmTrace, and plans to make 10 more investments within the next five years,” Nkambule said.

He added that Secha Capital, which runs an operator-investor model, placed highly-skilled human capital resources into its portfolio companies to work on high impact value creation projects that deliver exponential growth for its entrepreneurs.

“We invest in companies at an inflection point in their growth trajectory. Most capital in Southern Africa is invested in either extremes – early-stage startups or mature companies,” Nkambule said.

“We’ve identified a gap in the market where we can find a unique proprietary pipeline and bring in our team of operator investors to achieve outsized returns,” he added.

According to information from the company, Secha Capital, which was founded in 2017 by Nkambule, Brendan Mullen and Rushil Vallabh, is an operator-investor firm that runs a model that places highly-skilled human capital resources into its portfolio companies to work on high impact value creation projects that deliver exponential growth for its entrepreneurs.

According to tech experts, the first tranche of fund has proven that the combination of equity investments and human capital for growth-stage businesses is a replicable model for generating financial returns and social impact, particularly in women-founded businesses in South Africa.