FSD Africa’s $30M fund to speed up insurtech innovation

• With roughly 80% of economic losses from natural disasters going uninsured in 2022, up from 58% in 2021, the continent faces unique needs in cover that FSD Africa seeks to close.
• So far, the BimaLab Accelerator Programme has supported 135 startups across 28 African countries.
• New Regulatory Sandbox Eligibility Assessment Toolkit also unveiled.

FSD Africa has stirred the insurance innovation space with the roll out of a new $25 – 30 million Inclusive Insurtech Investment Fund (3iF), setting the stage for players from the private sector keen on developing insurance technology to accelerate innovation projects in order to close the huge gap that exists in the industry.

According to an update made on Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya FSD Africa said 3iF is a pan-African venture capital fund that has a preference to early-stage insurtech startups whose focus is expanding current insurance access, affordability, and awareness with a particular focus on climate resilience, health, and financial inclusion among underserved populations.

The announcement was made during the BimaLab Africa Insurtech Summit which was held between 26–27 November in Nairobi. This initiative will be building on the BimaLab Accelerator Programme, which has so far backed over 135 startups in 28 countries and 3iF seeks to bridge the financing gap that prevents promising tech-enabled solutions from scaling and addressing Africa’s substantial insurance protection gap.

FSD Africa blended financing structure

The funding, which will be available starting January 2026, offers a blended structure that brings together junior equity from catalytic investors, anchored by FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi), FSD Africa’s investment arm, with senior equity from commercial and strategic investors led by Zep Re.

Additionally, 3iF is structured to provide investment growth capital to successful graduates of BimaLab as well as other promising ventures, complementing the BimaLab ecosystem.

“The launch of the 3i Fund opens an exciting new chapter for insurance innovation in Africa. By investing in the next generation of insurtech pioneers, we are unlocking opportunities to expand access, affordability, and resilience for millions across the continent. Our goal is to empower visionary startups to transform how insurance works for everyone—driving inclusive growth, climate resilience, and financial security for Africa’s future,” Kelvin Massingham, Director, Adaptation and Resilience, FSD Africa, explained.

At the same time, a new Regulatory Sandbox Eligibility Assessment Toolkit was also launched at the BimaLab Insurtech Accelerator Summit, offering a practical resource that is tailormade to help insurance regulators in the continent to quantify the level of impact new insurtech innovations will have on their economies. This tool will be crucial in supporting investment, testing and the development of impactful innovations within regulatory sandboxes.

Streamline how regulators evaluate emerging insurtech models

According to the market update, this new tool is designed to streamline how regulators evaluate emerging insurtech models, lower barriers for startups, and ultimately expand access to affordable risk protection, particularly for informal workers, rural communities, smallholder farmers, and low-income households.

“By strengthening the regulatory environment, we are laying the foundation for a more resilient and inclusive insurance ecosystem for Africa’s next decade. Building regulatory readiness for innovation is key, and BimaLab’s new toolkit will be an invaluable resource not only for us here in Kenya, but for African regulators across the continent,” noted Godfrey Kiptum, CEO and Commissioner, Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), Kenya.

The push for inclusive insurance systems across Africa

At the moment, statistics show that Africa is grappling with a huge gap in insurance penetration. Across many economies, the insurance penetration runs below 3 percent, leaving millions of individuals, small businesses, and at worst vulnerable communities exposed to risks they cannot recover from quickly.

Industry data shows that about 80 per cent of economic losses in Africa from natural disasters went uninsured in 2022, up from 58 per cent that was reported in 2021.

Launched in Kenya in July 2020 by the Insurance Regulatory Authority and FSD Africa, the BimaLab Accelerator Programme has evolved to become one of the continent’s top insurance innovation platform. It aims to harness technology innovations that increase insurance penetration among low-income and underserved communities and is a key component of FSD Africa’s mission to build resilient, inclusive financial markets across the continent of Africa.

Read also: Africa Climate Ventures gets $1.08M from FSD Africa

Development of insurtech products

BimaLab was designed to drive innovation and accelerate the development of insurtech products and distribution, helping startups to scale and develop market-ready solutions, and supporting regulatory engagement and inclusivity throughout the insurance sector.

“Africa’s protection gap is not just a market failure, it’s a capacity and capital gap. BimaLab Africa Insurtech Accelerator combines focused technical support with catalytic funding, we enable insurtechs to de-risk innovation, scale inclusive products and reach the millions who remain unprotected,” Elias Omondi, Principal of Innovation for Resilience explains.

The two-day BimaLab Africa Insurtech Summit 2025 held in Nairobi, brought together insurers, regulators, investors, innovators, tech partners, and development leaders driving the transformation of insurance across Africa, under the theme “Insuring Africa’s Future: Innovation, Inclusion and Investment”.

Ted Pantone, CEO and Co-founder of Turaco, a Kenyan micro-insurance company showcasing its innovative insurance products at the Summit, commented: “Our vision when we launched in 2019 was to insure 1 billion people across the continent, and already, with BimaLab’s ongoing support, we have successfully expanded to Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana, and are now insuring over 1 million customers and processing over 20,000 claims. We are proof that this programme really works.”