LONDON, and NEW YORK, July 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STP Group merged with MicroEnsure and TonkaBI to provide micro insurance to internet platforms, millions of micro and small businesses, and to approximately four billion people on the planet who are currently without an insurance policy. As of July 1, 2020, the company began operations under the name The Micro Insurance Company.
Micro insurers have been operating for decades and yet billions of people and millions of businesses still have no access to the safety net that insurance can provide. This is because micro insurance is a highly fragmented market with complex products, cumbersome customer journeys and stymied systems that prevents the swift payment of claims. The formation of The Micro Insurance Company is the first global end-to-end digital micro insurance solution that combines reinsurance capacity, in-country insurance licenses, world-class distribution and market-leading artificial intelligence functionality.
“Today’s announcement marks one of the most significant milestones in the history of the micro insurance industry,” said Harry Croydon, founder of STP Group and CEO of The Micro Insurance Company. “After years of market development, it is only now that the necessary technology has been developed so that we can offer complete micro insurance products to the unserved. We provide people with a simple safety net, so when the unexpected happens, they can bounce back swiftly.”
The Micro Insurance Company is formed through the merger of TonkaBI, STP Insurance Services, and MicroEnsure, which brings together resources, expertise, and skills in underwriting, technology and distribution. Whereas most insurtech firms seek to improve existing monoline products and markets, The Micro Insurance Company follows the concept of straight-through processing to create highly relevant insurance products at a very low cost to support people in their local communities around the world.
MicroEnsure pioneered micro insurance for emerging consumers starting in 2002, and it grew to become industry’s leading innovator by being first to market with weather index insurance and using mobile networks to distribute insurance. Since its founding in 2002, the firm created more than 200 products for low-income families, and has served more than 65 million people by partnering with a range of MFIs, banks, mobile networks and ride-hailing companies across Africa and Asia. Flourish Ventures, which spun out of the Omidyar Network last year, was the lead investor in MicroEnsure.
TonkaBI specialises in transforming the way we look at data by applying a data-driven business intelligence approach to the insurance market. The TonkaBI team builds software focusing on AI, computer vision and robotic process automation that helps its partners transform their businesses into digital platforms.
“Today begins an important new chapter for MicroEnsure,” said Richard Leftley, founder of MicroEnsure and EVP of The Micro Insurance Corporation. “As the first dedicated micro insurance pioneer we needed to take on the role of underwriting have found the right partners to create, sell and service our own products globally and at a massive scale. We look forward with great excitement to working together to enhance lives of people globally.”
About the Micro Insurance Company (MIC)
The insurance industry has historically encouraged and protected socio-economic progress, but four billion uninsured people and businesses are still desperately seeking workable insurance solutions to their problems. MIC was formed to address this large market globally and focuses on the unserved population and businesses of the world by providing an insurance platform that is capable of assuming various types of micro transactional insurance risk covering gig workers, IoT, the sharing economy, micro and small businesses and weather, all managed through technology and delivered at low cost by using the principles of straight-through processing. www.microinsurance.com
MEDIA CONTACTS
EST time zone – Harry Croydon, CEO harry.croydon@microinsurance.com
GMT time zone – Richard Leftley, EVP International richard.leftley@microensure.com