INVEST - Micro Insurer BIMA raises US$107M Led by Allianz

Swedish Micro-Insurer BIMA was Founded in 2010 to Disrupt the Global Insurance Industry

Quick Facts:

• Active in 14 countries on 3 continents
• 93% of customers live on $10 or less per day
• 30+ Million policyholders
• 500,000+ new clients per month
• Built on proprietary technical platform created by Milvik Mobile
• Life, Accident and Health Insurance paid and serviced via mobiles
• BIMA works with Mobile Network Operators, Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs) & Banks
• 75% of new BIMA customers are accessing insurance for the first time.

BIMA is a leading insurance player that uses mobile technology to disrupt the global insurance industry and fuel financial inclusion.

In late December, BIMA, the leading micro-insurance provider in emerging markets, announced a US$107 million financing. 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.

Allianz has a large and attractive global footprint that overlaps many of BIMA’s markets. As one of the world’s largest insurers, Allianz will bring deep insurance expertise and products 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 market 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 across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“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,” said BIMA founder and CEO Gustaf Agartson. 

BIMA will continue its rapid growth by harnessing soaring mobile penetration in emerging markets and deliver against an ambition to reach 1 billion consumers.

“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,” said Chris Bischoff, BIMA’s Board Chair and the Senior Investment Director at Kinnevik.

Why is this important:

This digital innovator is able to disrupt the iconic rule of legacy players in a large ecosystem by reaching new low cost clients using a mobile paradigm. The two largest costs of an insurer are new client acquisition and claims management. By 'paralleling' the mobile network provider they offer another source of revenue and create additional business value. Watch for other innovators to copy this approach and disruption in ecosystems that are struggling to obtain clients or to develop low cost services. Fueling financial inclusion for this low-end market segment is a wonderful way to gain loyal clients requiring additional services as they rise to become the middle class of emerging markets.