• Hollard Group has announced a “significant strategic investment” in local insurtech firm Simply Financial Services.
• Simply offers life, disability and funeral cover at very affordable prices for businesses and individuals.
• The seed investment will help Simply expand and reach more South Africans looking for affordable insurance.

Traditional insurance is costly and sorely in need of an update which is why over the years we’ve seen technology-backed solutions come to the fore as insurtech becomes more popular. These include the likes of Naked which make insurance more approachable and sensible.

Solutions like this aren’t just attractive to the folks they hope to help but also to investors who are aware of the perils that plague traditional insurance. For instance, Hollard has announced a “significant strategic investment” in local insurtech firm Simply Financial Services.

Founded by two friends in 2016, Simply aims to shake up the traditional insurance sector that provides direct life cover, disability cover and funeral cover for everybody. Business owners can even take up cover for their staff, this includes those who employ domestic workers.

In 2020, the firm stepped into the SME and broker spaces in a bid to redefine the traditional approach to life insurance, especially for low to middle-income earners.

“The current model for long term insurance in the mass market is unsustainable – there’s an oversupply of expensive, standalone retail products, especially funeral cover, with high policyholder churn and, ultimately, low value for money for customers,” says Simply co-founder Anthony Miller.

“Simply turns that model on its head by offering customers combinations of benefits – such as life, disability and funeral cover – and getting employers to pay the premiums where possible. Thanks to good retention rates, our solutions deliver good customer outcomes when it counts – whether it’s our novel group option, which is typically cheaper, or our retail option, which allows for more flexibility.”

This model was seemingly convincing for Hollard which has also seeded the likes of Naked and Dotsure. In the case of Simply, the investment will help it reach a large pool of individuals and businesses. The firm strongly believes that with this investment it will be able to protect the financial futures of millions of South Africans.

“We believe Simply’s “superpowers” – their proprietary technology platform and end-to-end insurance capabilities – will be a valuable addition to Hollard’s stable. Simply’s business enables rapid deployment of new products and features, which will both fuel Simply’s growth and further enhance Hollard’s partnership offerings,” says chief executive officer at Hollard Group, Willie Lategan.

“Hollard has always been an active supporter of innovative and disruptive insurance models and has a strong track record of investing in Insurtechs to keep ahead of industry trends while meeting consumers’ real insurance needs. We particularly like that Simply is already at critical mass and has a strong track record of delivery to customers,” adds the CEO.

It’s not clear how much Simply was seeded by Hollard Group.

Cover from Simply starts at R89 per month and you can find out more about its offering here.