An insurance technology startup, ETAP, has secured $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to drive the adoption of much-needed car insurance across Africa.

Starting from Nigeria, the new funding will support the roll-out of ETAP’s game-changing app, which allows drivers to buy insurance in 90 seconds, complete claims in three minutes or less and get rewarded for good driving and avoiding accidents.

Mobility 54 led the pre-seed funding round with participation from Tangerine Insurance, Graph Ventures, Newmont and other angel investors.

Working with a wide range of automotive value chain players, ETAP will also explore other opportunities to deliver much-needed insurance services for car owners in other countries across the continent.

Despite longstanding regulations making car insurance compulsory and more than 100,000 car accidents reported between January 2019 and December 2021, only one in five cars in Nigeria are currently insured.

The complexities of buying and claiming insurance have led to widespread apathy for traditional insurance companies and products, with many car owners opting to go without insurance.

ETAP uses machine learning to build intelligent risk profiles that determine appropriate premiums for each driver, allowing them to achieve lower premiums by driving safely. Using advanced telematics, the driving experience is gamified to improve driving behaviour and drivers can earn Safe Driving Points that can be exchanged for shopping vouchers for the most in-demand retail outlets, fuel, cinema and concert tickets, and other exciting experiences.

Drivers also have flexible coverage options, including daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual plans depending on their needs. In the unfortunate event of an accident, they simply need to take a picture of the affected part of the car via the app and artificial intelligence processes the claim based on previously uploaded images.

The app comes with geolocation tags, timestamps and other features to prevent fraudulent claims, as well as crash notification, emergency support and more.

Since launching in beta in November 2021, ETAP has insured more than 130,000 individual trips and over 500,000 kilometres of car journeys, which represents more than eight times the total distance of paved roads in Nigeria.

Chief Executive Officer and founder of ETAP, Ibraheem Babalola, said: “Just like any other digital service, we believe Nigerians should be able to buy and claim car insurance without having to ‘call a guy’.

“We also believe that rewarding good drivers can be a catalyst for better driving and making our roads safer. This is why we have created Africa’s most powerful car insurance app and are excited to have raised these funds to bring more users on board. Too often, the process of buying and claiming insurance in Africa is so out of touch with the everyday reality of most people but we are changing the game and making the process just as enjoyable as any other experience that consumers access on mobile phone,” he said.

Project Manager at Mobility 54, Yumi Takagi, said: “ETAP is addressing many challenges that impact the automotive experience in Africa and we are excited to support and work with them to bring their innovation to more drivers across the continent. We believe that ETAP will engage with this important role and revolutionise the automotive insurance industry with their powerful technology.”