In yet another move showing that Naspers is exploring areas of business outside its core offerings, the group’s SA-focused venture arm has invested R34m in an online company that provides short-term insurance advice.
On Wednesday, Naspers said its Foundry unit has invested in Paarl-based Ctrl, the first insurance bet for the fund. Naspers Foundry is the group’s SA-focused R1.4bn early-stage tech investment fund.
Founded in 2017 by Pieter Erasmus, Pieter Venter and Francois Venter, Ctrl is a digital short-term insurance advice platform.
At its core, the platform connects consumers, brokers and insurers in one place, allowing brokers to provide insurance advice digitally. The platform also “allows underserved consumers to easily compare multiple quotes, obtain advice, accept cover and manage their policies”, Naspers Foundry said.
The start-up says it offers consumer-facing businesses an opportunity to enter the insurance advice industry by “providing insurance solutions to their existing clients, enabling them to generate an additional income stream”.
In a statement, Fabian Whate, head of Naspers Foundry, said: “Ctrl has created a smart digital platform that unlocks consumer choice and competitive pricing in a previously underserved market.” He added that they were “thrilled to make our first insurtech investment”.
Pieter Venter, who serves as CEO of Ctrl, said: “We are ecstatic about Naspers Foundry’s investment given their vast experience in growing tech start-ups. We believe we are now in the best position to grow our business and we are excited about Ctrl’s future as we transform the insurance industry.”
The investment in Ctrl marks the sixth one for Foundry since its inception.
Most recently, the fund invested R42m into WhereIsMyTransport, a Cape Town-based start-up specialising in creating digital maps of informal transport routes.
In 2019, Naspers backed Aisha Pandor’s online home cleaning services business, SweepSouth, with R30m. In May, the unit made its largest investment by putting R100m into agritech business Aerobotics.
In September, it invested an estimated R25m in Food Supply Network, a business-to-business online marketplace that integrates food ordering systems across the food services industry.
In November, the venture unit invested R45m, its second-largest investment so far, in online learning platform The Student Hub as the group beefed up its portfolio of education technology (edtech) businesses.
Naspers’s international unit Prosus has large investments in companies such as China’s Tencent, Brazil’s iFood, Germany’s Delivery Hero and the US’s Udemy.
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