Pineapple (formerly know as Amyti), a Johannesburg-based InsurTech startup, has raised R5,2 million in seed funding.
Backers included Lireas Holdings, the strategic investment subsidiary of Hannover Re Group Africa.
The startup secured the funding it was selected to take part in a global challenge hosted by Hanover-Re in Johannesburg, Boston, Berlin and Dublin.
The company intends to use the funds to launch its platform within the end of the year. The funding is in return for a minority shareholding, will assist the startup in bringing its peer-to-peer insurance offering to market.
Led by actuarial science graduate Matthew Elan Smith, Pineapple wants to revolutionise an insurance business model it sees as archaic and seeks to implement a transparent solution that removes the conflict of interest in insurance by returning all unused premium back to the hands of the consumer and allows users to connect with friends, family and trusted acquaintances to avoid fraud and scamsters.
Underwritten by Compass Insurance, Pineapple's platform will compete with products from the likes of local insurers MyWay, Outsurance and Santam.
"Our true innovation of creating a decentralised peer-to-peer insurer is only as good as how well we can deliver that business model to our users. This drives us to be absolutely meticulous when it comes to our user experience in order to minimalize the friction of getting insured," said Smith.
Pineapple will soon be available on both the Play and Apple app stores.
