Luno and Invenfin back Root insurance API in $3m seed round

Cape Town-based low-code insurance platform start-up Root closed a $3 million seed funding round to help expand its infrastructure build to support the digital insurance economy. Primary backers Invenfin, Base Capital, Savannah Fund, P1 Ventures, FireID and Luno were joined by a select group of high impact angel investors for the hugely successful round.

Root intends using the capital to roll out its flexible low-code digital insurance platform to innovators in new regions.

The cloud-native, end-to-end insurance platform was founded in 2016 with the goal of breaking down barriers to innovation in financial services. Root packages the “hard things” in insurance and exposes programmable insurance products through easy-to-use APIs.

This seed round comes after a period of strong demand among affinity insurers in South Africa with Telkom, Mr Price Money, FinChoice and Metropolitan already making use of the company’s insurance infrastructure. Root has built up a solid reputation with the millions of policies and thousands of claims processed each month.

“We have been following Root closely over the last few years and are delighted to be partnering with the team as they enter this new phase of scaling the business,” said Invenfin CEO Stuart Gast in a statement. “We are confident that Root is positioned to have a massively positive impact on insurance, both in South Africa and abroad.”

“As Root continues to unlock innovation in insurance, we are making it easier for innovators to put customers first and take the industry into the age of truly personalised and convenient embedded products,” says Louw Hopley, CEO and co-founder. “Closing this funding means that we can power more innovators, globally, and accelerate the process of transformation.”

Read more: Nigerian fintech startup Payhippo secures $3-million

Featured image: founders of Root (supplied by Root)