BIMA, the leading micro-insurance provider in emerging markets, announced a US$107 million financing including a US$30 million growth round. The financing is led by a US$96.6 million investment from Allianz X, the digital investment unit of the Allianz Group, with participation from Kinnevik, BIMA’s lead shareholder. This round positions BIMA to cement its leadership in micro-insurance and accelerate the delivery of affordable insurance to underserved populations.
Allianz has a large and attractive global footprint that overlaps with many of BIMA’s markets. As one of the world’s largest insurers, Allianz will bring deep insurance expertise to help BIMA strengthen and deepen its proposition to customers.
“Our investment in BIMA underscores Allianz’s commitment to digitalization, supporting the growth strategy of the Group in emerging economies, as well as enabling us to serve the so-called ‘next billion customers’,” said Oliver Bäte, CEO of Allianz SE.
BIMA’s proprietary technology delivers convenient and affordable insurance and health products to emerging markets customers who cannot access them through traditional channels. Its business model combines mobile technology, partnerships with mobile operators and a dedicated 3,500-person salesforce to achieve scale and profitability. Since launching in 2010, BIMA has scaled operations in 14 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America and has 24 million registered customers to date.
BIMA founder and CEO Gustaf Agartson said, “Allianz is the perfect insurance partner and investor for BIMA because of their strong commitment to emerging markets and our overlapping footprint. Allianz’ significant expertise and knowledge in the insurance space will enable BIMA to improve our product portfolio and provide valuable products to the emerging market consumers.”
“The strategic investment in BIMA contributes to the digital transformation of the Allianz Group and our commitment to emerging markets,” said Nazim Cetin, CEO of Allianz X. “I am thrilled to work with colleagues who have such entrepreneurial spirit and look forward to our collaboration.”
Chris Bischoff, BIMA’s Board Chairman and Senior Investment Director at Kinnevik, said, “The Board of BIMA is excited to welcome Allianz as a new shareholder alongside our existing strategic partners Millicom, Axiata and Digicel. Allianz shares our view on the opportunity to provide mobile-first insurance to the underserved and will bring their global resources to bear.”
Chris added, “Kinnevik is pleased to participate in the funding round and looks forward to working in partnership with Allianz to accelerate access by millions more consumers to BIMA’s products and services.”
19 December 2017