E-Business
Curacel Secures $3M Seed Funding to Power New Insurance Experiences
Curacel, Africa’s leading insurance infrastructure provider, has raised $3 million in seed funding to roll out new technology solutions designed to power the next generation of insurance experiences in Africa. The new funding will also support the company’s expansion into North Africa.
The seed funding round included Tencent, AAF Management (invested in Sure, Flutterwave), Elefund (invested in Robinhood, Pie Insurance and Sure), Blue Point Capital Partners, Pioneer Fund, Olive Tree Capital and Y Combinator, as well as James Park (CEO of Fitbit), Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola (CEO of Flutterwave), Babs Ogundeyi (CEO of Kuda) and other strategic investors. Top executives from Covergenius, Zopper and Pie Insurance will also join Curacel’s advisory board as part of the round.
The combination of a fast-growing population, a rising middle class and increasing access to financial services across the continent means more Africans have the opportunity to experience a wider range of products and services.
From buying cars to accessing accommodation, these experiences come with various risks and insurance companies play a huge role in making it easier to manage the risks and enjoy these experiences with confidence.
However, with insurance penetration across the continent still under 3 percent, many Africans are having to take on these entirely by themselves.
At the same time, the paper-based approach and antiquated technology that powers many insurers’ processes is time-consuming, unduly expensive and prone to fraud and waste.
African insurers lose more than $12 billion per year to fraudulent, wasteful and abusive claims, which makes them understandably cautious and risk-averse with the customer they choose to serve.
Curacel makes it easier for insurers to distribute their products, automate their claims processes, and drive revenue growth by giving them easy-to-use technology solutions that have been specifically designed to drive up insurance inclusion on the continent.
With Grow, Curacel’s embedded insurance product, more than 100 banks, fintechs, logistics companies and other tech-enabled companies, including ALAT (Nigeria’s first digital bank), Providus, PalmPay, Float, etc and others are empowered to increase their recurring revenues by offering digital insurance products that are seamlessly embedded into their existing products and services, driving much-needed insurance penetration and customer loyalty.
Leading insurers like AXA Mansard, Liberty Health, Old Mutual and Jubilee Heath also leverage Curacel’s market leading technology to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their claims processes.
The company’s AI-powered infrastructure means claims can be submitted and processed in real time, helping insurers to reduce their claims cycle by more than 70 percent and process up to 10x more claims.
Curacel has processed more than $100 million worth of claims, working with more than 20 insurers and more than 5,000 service providers in 8 countries across the continent.
In 2022, Curacel grew its transaction volume by 600 percent and increased its revenue by 500 percent. Starting with Egypt and Morocco, the new funding will enable the company to roll out its services in North Africa and deepen its presence in other parts of the continent.
According to Henry Mascot, CEO and co-founder of Curacel, “We are bullish on the potential of the right technology in the right places to close the protection gap across Africa and emerging markets.
It is an exciting time for us as we secure the capital to deliver the vision and onboard the people who have built these technologies at scale in more mature markets, and we are looking forward to delivering more technology solutions to drive up insurance inclusion.”
Omar Darwazah, Managing Director and General Partner at AAF Management, said “at less than 3%, the insurance penetration rate in Africa is one of the lowest in the world, presenting an incredible market opportunity for Henry and the team at Curacel to bridge that insurance gap.
“We are excited to participate in the company’s Seed round and join Curacel’s mission in building easy-to-use technology solutions for insurers to distribute their products on the continent.”
Serik Kaldykulov, General Partner at Elefund, said “Africa remains a relatively untapped market when it comes to insurance and technology presents the best opportunity to reach new users and deliver excellent services.
“Curacel has built a suite of solutions and an impressive track record of success that makes us very excited to be supporting them on their mission to use technology to drive up insurance inclusion in Africa.”
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has commenced a forensic investigation into the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lotus Bank and Hackerbella Ltd over alleged violations of data protection laws involving students’ personal information.
The investigation follows public complaints alleging that students’ personal data were used to open bank accounts without a lawful basis.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer of the NDPC, directed the investigation team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances surrounding the collection, processing, use and disclosure of the affected students’ personal data.
The investigation will also determine the respective roles and responsibilities of UNILAG, Lotus Bank and Hackerbella in the alleged processing of the data.
According to the Commission, the investigation will assess the data protection compliance obligations of the parties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), as well as potential risks posed to the rights and freedoms of the affected data subjects.
The NDPC said the probe would cover several areas, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), the lawfulness and transparency of credit scoring or profiling activities, and the use of automated decision-making systems.
It will also examine the adequacy of privacy notices, data-sharing arrangements, lawful bases for processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation.
Other areas include data retention policies and the adequacy of technical and organisational measures put in place to safeguard the rights and personal data of affected students.
The Commission reiterated that institutions entrusted with the personal data of students, staff and other members of their communities have a heightened responsibility to ensure that such information is processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely.
The NDPC therefore warned educational institutions that are yet to comply with its existing data protection compliance directives to take immediate steps to achieve compliance.
The Commission said it would continue to exercise its regulatory mandate to protect the privacy rights of Nigerians and ensure that organisations processing personal data comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
Microsoft is planning to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans.
The company introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023 but has lagged rivals such as Alphabet and Amazon in scaling up its in-house chip efforts as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s costly processors.
Google began recognizing revenue from direct sales of its custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units, in the quarter ended June, while Amazon has also seen growing adoption of its processors, including its Trainium chips.
Microsoft has been in talks with chipmaker TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 units of the chip for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It is also looking to significantly ramp up production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt the chip.
Microsoft ultimately aims to secure capacity for more than 1 million Maia 300 chips, though component supplies and ongoing capacity negotiations with TSMC could constrain its plans, according to the report.
It unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 in January, built by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology.
Microsoft packed the chip with a significant amount of SRAM, a type of memory that can provide speed advantages for AI systems handling large numbers of user requests.
X has announced plans to discontinue its Revenue Sharing programme and introduce a new Original Content Rewards programme to reward creators for producing original content on the platform.
The social media company announced the changes at the weekend in a post on its X Creators handle, saying the new programme would reward creators who contribute original content.
“Today, we’re introducing the Original Content Rewards Program, a new way to reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to X,” the company said.
X said it would stop accepting new enrolments into the Revenue Sharing programme from Friday, while existing participants would continue earning until September 7, 2026.
“Starting today, we’re no longer accepting new enrollments into Revenue Sharing,” it said.
According to the company, existing Revenue Sharing participants will receive three final payouts, with two scheduled for August 14 and August 28, while the final payment for earnings accrued through September 7 is expected around September 11.
X said existing Revenue Sharing participants would begin getting access to apply for the new programme from September 8, subject to meeting its eligibility requirements.
The first payout under the Original Content Rewards programme will be made on August 28, 2026, while existing Revenue Sharing creators who enrol in the new programme from September 8 will receive their first payment on September 25.
Under the new programme, eligible creators will earn from qualified impressions generated by their original content, with payments made every two weeks.
X defined qualified impressions as unique impressions from Premium users on the Home Timeline feed, where at least 50 per cent of a post is visible.
On the other hand, “The following are excluded from qualified impressions: impressions from the same account counted more than once per post; paid, promoted, or artificially generated impressions; and fraudulent impressions,” it said.
To qualify, creators must be at least 18 years old, live in a country where the programme is available, maintain an account in good standing and have either a personal or vusiness account.
They must also subscribe to X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business, have at least 500 verified followers and record at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users within the previous 90 days.
X said creators must also regularly post original content to remain eligible.
“We want to recognize creators who break news, share expertise, tell stories, create entertainment, and contribute meaningful perspectives to the conversation,” the company said.
The platform said original content could include threads, videos, memes, graphics, illustrations, reporting, analysis, commentary and reactions that add meaningful value to existing conversations.
It said creators who use content produced by others would need to add meaningful commentary, context, analysis, humour or creative transformation for such posts to qualify.
“Building on existing conversations is a core part of X, but simply reposting someone else’s content is not enough,” it said.
X said minor edits such as cropping, filters, borders, watermarks, speed adjustments or simple text overlays would generally not qualify as meaningful transformation on their own.
It also warned that content copied or substantially reproduced from another creator, content downloaded and re-uploaded from X or another platform without being the original author’s, automated content, disinformation and misleading content would be ineligible.
The company said accounts that violate the programme’s requirements could be temporarily or permanently removed from it, depending on the severity of the violation.
It added that creators would be responsible for ensuring they had the necessary rights, permissions or licences to use content created by others.
“Original content is content you personally create that reflects your own voice, perspective, expertise, or creativity,” X said.
The company said the new programme was intended to reward creators who make the platform more valuable by bringing original ideas and perspectives to its conversations.
“The Original Content Rewards Program is designed to reward the creators who start them, shape them, and move them forward,” it said.
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