The PTA Reinsurance Company, also known as Zep-Re, was set up in 1990 by the economic community Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, or COMESA to expand affordable insurance for underserved populations.
It launched as a public-private partnership with support from Tanzania’s Public Service Social Security Fund, German development bank KfW, the Trade and Development Bank among others. With FSD Africa Investments, Zep-Re has invested $12 million in the first close of the Inclusive Insurtech Investment Fund, which was launched in Nairobi last year with a $30 million target. The blended finance fund will cut pre-seed to Series B checks of between $250,000 and around $1 million for insurtech startups in climate resilience, health, rural livelihoods, financial inclusion and small business insurance.
“Impact and private capital are now investing in the same insurance technology pioneers,” said 3IF Ventures’ Anthony Chaillet and Mario Wilhelm. “Africa’s protection gap is the most under-served commercial opportunity of the decade. Closing it requires patient capital, local risk capacity and industry-grade portfolio support, working in concert.”
Insurtech
Insurance penetration in Africa sits at 3%, due in part to a lack of affordability, awareness and accessibility. The 3IF fund builds on the Bimalab insurtech accelerator program launched by FSD Africa Investments in 2021 with support from Swiss Re Foundation. The program has supported more than 135 startups in 28 countries. Zep-Re and Westerwelle Foundation launched an insurtech innovation hub in Rwanda the following year. Zep-Re acquired 56% of Nairobi-based Agriculture And Climate Risk Enterprise or ACRE Africa to provide micro-insurance solutions to smallholder farmers against extreme weather and other climate-related shocks.
Zep-Re additionally manages the $360.5 million Horn of Africa De-risking, Inclusion and Value Enhancement or DRIVE project by World Bank to build drought insurance awareness and design insurance products for over 1.6 million pastoralists. The new fund aims to issue more than 5.9 million new insurance policies and cover over 3.5 million households and small businesses.
