Participated · Series B · Feb 2025

Naked was launched in 2018 by actuaries Alex Thomson, Sumarié Greybe, and Ernest North and is headquartered in South Africa. It operates a fully digital platform that leverages AI and automation to let customers obtain final quotes in under 90 seconds, buy cover online, submit claims, or pause accident coverage without any phone calls. The company is the only platform in South Africa selling 100% of its car, home, and single-item insurance policies online without human intervention. Its proprietary technology enhances risk selection and pricing, producing convenience and cost savings for users while supporting profitable unit economics. Naked’s "Naked Difference" business model takes a fixed percentage of premiums and donates any surplus from unclaimed funds to causes chosen by customers, removing conflicts of interest in claims handling. The company plans to deepen investment in automation and AI, expand products and markets, and increase advertising to grow its customer base while meeting regulatory capital requirements tied to rapid growth. Naked Insurance is a South African digital insurance platform that uses artificial intelligence to automate customer processes without contact-center agents. It offers coverage for cars, homes, contents and standalone items and charges a fixed percentage of customers' premiums; surpluses in lower-claim years go to communities and causes chosen by customers. The company says its technology and business model deliver cost savings that can be passed to customers through lower premiums. The pandemic has shifted how South African millennials buy insurance, increasing demand for online interactions, and Naked aims to leverage automation to reduce claims-journey costs by as much as 30%. The company plans to use new funding to improve its AI, grow its team and expand into new markets. Naked Insurance is a South African insurance startup founded in 2016 and launched in 2018 that offers car, home, renters, and single-item insurance. All of Naked's products are underwritten by Hollard and are sold and managed through the Naked app, where customers can purchase coverage and file claims. The company charges a flat fee upfront to cover running costs and profit, with the remainder used for claims; leftover premiums are paid to causes chosen by clients, a practice the company calls the “Naked Difference.” Naked employs around 39 people and operates in the same space as Pineapple and King Price. Financially, Naked raised $11 million in a round led by Naspers Foundry with participation from existing investors Yellowwoods and Hollard, bringing its total funding to $14.5 million. The company’s fee model is noted as similar to Lemonade’s. Naked Insurance is a South African insurtech providing AI-driven car insurance. Founded in October 2016 by Alex Thomson, Sumarié Greybe and Ernest North, the company launched its first product in April after about 18 months of development. Investors committed additional funding after the startup reported a strong first six months of trading and customer acquisition and retention rates that exceeded expectations. The company currently has 14 staff and plans to grow to around 20, adding data-science positions. Management intends to use the funding to expand the customer base and move into new short-term insurance product categories. Yellowwoods’ head of insurance said Naked helps deliver an improved customer experience and greater fairness for policyholders. Naked Insurance is developing a technology-driven insurance business model aimed at making obtaining insurance effortless, fair and transparent. The startup is led by actuaries Alex Thomson and Sumarié Greybe, formerly partners in EY’s insurance advisory business, who spent the past decade advising many of South Africa’s largest insurance groups. The founders say incumbents struggle to transform because of outdated business models and systems, and that the only way to do things differently was to start from scratch and build new business and technology. Naked has raised ZAR20 million (US$1.4 million) to support its plans. Hollard and private investment firm Yellowwoods participated in the round. The company plans to launch into the market early next year.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2023

Bdeo specialises in Visual Intelligence for the insurance and fleet industries. Its AI-powered Visual Intelligence solution integrates into insurer operations to remotely assess damage to vehicles and homes, accelerating claims and underwriting processes. The technology is designed to optimize and automate processes for insurance and fleet management companies. The company works with more than 50 insurers, including Reale, Mapfre and Generali in Spain; Ageas and Fidelidade in Portugal; Zurich, Allianz and BBVA in the Latin American market; and Hollard in South Africa. Bdeo has offices in Mexico, Spain, France, the UK and Italy. Led by CEO Julio Pernía, the company plans to use new funding to accelerate international expansion and strengthen its position across Europe and Latin America. Bdeo develops AI-powered tools that digitize the interaction between insurance companies and policyholders, covering automatic policy subscription and digitalization of claims management with automatic damage detection. The company is led by CEO Julio Pernía and has offices in Spain and Mexico. Bdeo closed a €5m Series A to support its growth and market consolidation. It plans to use the funds to consolidate its position in the markets where it currently operates, namely Spain and Latin America. Current investors include K Fund and Big Sur Ventures, who previously invested €1m in Bdeo’s 2019 seed round. The product and expansion focus target insurers seeking end-to-end digital insurance workflows. Bdeo offers a visual intelligence platform that digitises the processes of purchasing an insurance policy and registering a claim by using video-calling technology to collect documents and evidence. The company says its product has been developed and is already seeing successful implementation in Europe and Latin America. Clients named in the article include Mutua Madrileña and Zurich in Spain, Fidelidade in Portugal, and BBVA Bancomer in Mexico. Bdeo raised €1 million in funding to strengthen its existing team and support growth. The stated goal for the round is to consolidate the company in the markets where it already operates and to position itself as the leading visual intelligence solution for conducting business. The article identifies the company as Madrid-based and quotes CEO and co-founder Julio Pernía Aznar on growth plans.

Participated · Series B · Feb 2023

Naked is a digital insurance platform that offers end-to-end, AI-driven car, home, building, and standalone item insurance. The company uses artificial intelligence to automate customer processes and experiences so users can buy and manage policies without speaking to a contact-center agent. Its automation model drives cost savings for businesses, which Naked says it passes on to customers through lower premiums. Founded in 2018, Naked is an authorized financial services provider and aims to make insurance more accessible and straightforward through digital experiences. The company plans to expand its team, enter new markets, and further develop its AI capabilities to grow across Africa. The funding announced in the articles is positioned to support those growth and product-improvement efforts. Naked is a digital insurance platform founded in 2018 that offers online insurance for cars, homes, contents and standalone items. The company uses artificial intelligence to streamline processes and customer experiences. Customers can get a final quote in under 90 seconds and can switch or pause cover online, including pausing car premiums when not driving. Naked built its platform from the ground up to add features tailored to its customer base and to reduce reliance on human intervention. The company aims to expand its team, continue investing in customer-facing technology, serve a growing portion of the South African market, and enter international markets. Naked positions itself to capture more of a market where online automation can significantly lower claims costs and where millennial preferences are shifting toward digital insurance channels. Naked offers an artificial intelligence-driven car insurance product that launched its first offering in April after about 18 months of development. The company uses a model that takes a fixed portion of premiums to run the business and places the balance into a claims pool. At year-end, leftover funds in the claims pool are donated to charities nominated by customers, rather than being counted as company profit. Naked says customer acquisition and retention rates have exceeded expectations during a strong first six months of trading. The startup currently has 14 staff and plans to expand headcount to about 20, hiring additional data science roles and ramping up customer acquisition. It also intends to expand into new short-term insurance product categories. Naked is a South African insurtech startup that says it will remake the insurance business model to give customers a faster, fairer and more flexible insurance experience. The company places absolute customer empowerment and control at the centre of its offering and says it will retain only coverage from the existing insurance model while rebuilding everything else. Naked is led by actuaries Alex Thomson and Sumarié Greybe, who previously served as partners in EY’s insurance advisory business. The startup is set to enter the market in the first quarter of 2018. Hollard appointed outgoing Hollard group CEO Nic Kohler to Naked’s board. Hollard and private investment group Yellowwoods have invested R20‑million in the business.

Participated · Series B · Aug 2021

Open is a software company that offers an embedded insurance platform to resellers of general insurance (home, car, travel) and operates a direct-to-consumer brand, Huddle. Its platform enables partners such as Telstra and Ahm to sell and manage insurance products digitally with lower overhead. Open sells insurance underwritten by third-party insurers, which makes the business more capital efficient and produces lower loss ratios and a lower cost to acquire $1 of written premium compared with some peers. The company was founded in 2016 by UK ex-pats Jason Wilby and Jonathan Buck and is headquartered in Australia, with a growing number of staff based in New Zealand. Open is launching in New Zealand (underwriting agreement signed with Tower) and plans further international expansion from 2022, with local recruitment underway and discussions with underwriters and partners in target geographies. Its written premium and recognised revenue increased 400% in FY21 and are on track to grow another 300% in FY22.