Funding
2nd Place Winner, CreditGO, Takes Home $8000 at the “African App Launchpad Cup 2020”
Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) announced CreditGO, the B2B payment aggregator & merchants wallet for small businesses, as the second place winner at the just ended “African App Launchpad Cup 2020” competition.
The startup was also awarded with US$ 8,000. The African App Launchpad Cup 2020 which is considered the first of its kind in Africa, gives early stage entrepreneurs and startups from all over Africa the opportunity and space to showcase their innovative ideas and present their business projects.
CreditGO pitched their business model, a free mobile application for electronic payments that serves C and D segments’ merchants located in tier 2 cities and introducing cashless payments & digitization; thus achieving financial inclusion, creating jobs and generating operating income to everyone.
This announcement took place during the framework of the activities held by “The African Launchpad for creating games and digital applications”; a presidential initiative aimed to develop the capabilities of 10,000 Egyptian and African youth, qualifying them to develop digital games and applications using the latest technologies.
The African App Launchpad Cup initiative targets to support the creation of 100 startups in Africa in App and game development in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Egypt) and a number of international companies, ministries and institutions in various African countries.
Commenting on their performance, Sherine Ewase, Deputy CEO of CreditGO said, It was a great honor for them at CreditGO to have placed second among the outstanding multinational African startups and compete with their creative ideas, being able to present and convince the jury with the vision of CreditGO.
“We aim to play an essential role in society and build a strong foundation for financial inclusion across Egypt, to have a positive impact on the community and the economic development of the country. We have achieved 3 million Egyptian pounds in change, resulting from 75,000 transactions carried out by 2500 CreditGO users, and this is a validation for our hard work, dedication and commitment to our vision” confirms Ewase.
The B2B startup (CreditGO) further stated that they are working towards their growth and expansion phase where they look forward to reaching a wide and diverse segment of Egyptians who will benefit from the services, while educating them about the importance of digital transformation.
More than 180 startups from various African countries including Egypt applied to the competition, who were shortlisted to 50, and then to 24, to announce the final 7 winners for the first, second, third, and fourth places, four of which are in the applications category and three in the games category, and Egypt had four winning contestants in this list.
The “African Launchpad for creating games and digital applications” initiative has graduated 1,911 graduates this year, making the total number of graduates 3,064 since its launch in 2019.
About CreditGo
CreditGO is an Egyptian joint stock company specializing in electronic payment and collection services and owns the CreditGO free of charge mobile application, which is considered an alternative to traditional electronic payment devices.
CreditGO is a convenient, simple-to-go solution that adopts financial inclusion by empowering independent workers and the unbanked community to improve and increase their financial position.
Funding
Curacel: Insurtech Startup Secures $450K Pre-seed Funding Led by Atlantica Ventures & Consonance
The insurtech startup, Curacel, an AI-powered platform for claims processing and fraud management in Africa, reports that it has raised $450,000 pre-seed funding in a round that was led by Atlantica Ventures and Consonance with participation from Kepple Ventures and other African angel investors.
The new investment will be used to accelerate Curacel’s expansion across Africa and facilitate the goal of becoming Africa’s premier provider of embedded finance technology for insurance.
The insurtech startup already works with some of the biggest insurers on the continent, including AXA Mansard, Liberty Health and Old Mutual, as well as more than 800 hospitals in Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda. It plans to expand into 10 new African countries by the end of 2021.
Every year, African insurers lose more than $12 billion to fraudulent, wasteful, and abusive claims. Curacel’s flagship CLAIMS platform acts as a bridge between primary care hospitals and Africa’s insurance companies, using advanced artificial intelligence to ensure that insurance companies only pay claims for the correct treatment, appropriate medications and recommended patient therapies.
Curacel is also scheduled to launch Curacel Capital, a cash advance product that makes it easier for healthcare providers to access working capital to mitigate financial challenges. Delayed payments and other inefficiencies in the payment process means many African healthcare providers often have to make the difficult choice between keeping the books balanced or providing healthcare at a loss. With Curacel Capital, healthcare providers can access lump sums of up to three times their average monthly billings, based on claims processed on the Curacel portal, ensuring that they can continue to deliver essential services without undue disruption.
With insurance penetration at just 2.8% across the continent, many Africans are one accident or health emergency away from poverty. And in Africa’s communal societies, tragedy impacts entire communities, with people emptying their savings to pay for medical expenses, burials or other disaster relief for family members and kin. By leveraging Curacel’s products and services, insurers across the continent are better equipped to close the insurance gap and safeguard prosperity.
According to Curacel Co-founder and CEO, Henry Mascot, in a press statement said,
“We are excited to have these investors on board and we are looking forward to partnering with them to drive our vision of improving insurance inclusion across Africa.”
At Curacel he shares, they are uniquely positioned to safeguard livelihoods and increase the quality of life through their unique, market-leading products and services.
IK Kanu, Partner at Atlantica Ventures noted that,
“The African insurance market represents a significant growth opportunity and we are delighted to be partnering with Curacel to drive growth in this sector. There is an opportunity to create an entirely new market of products and services here and we look forward to supporting the team to improve health outcomes across the continent.”
Finally, Mobolaji Adeoye, the Managing Partner at Consonance adds that they believe the Curacel team has what it takes to be market leaders and are therefore excited to support them. Also stressing that they have a great product and equally delighted to be coming onboard at this early stage of their growth.
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