Lami acquires Kenya’s Bluewave to expand access to insurance in Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 3-Kenyan insurance technology company Lami, has acquired Bluewave Insurance Agency, an insurtech startup as it seeks to leverage the firm’s mobile technology to tap into Africa’s insurance gap.

With this acquisition, Lami aims to continue its mission towards democratizing insurance products and services for low-income Africans by providing them with access to convenient and affordable policies and innovative insurance solutions that extend to people at the bottom of the pyramid.

“At Lami, our mission is to ensure Africans from all walks of life have access to affordable insurance products that allow them to build financial security,” said Jihan Abass, Founder and CEO, Lami Technologies.

This acquisition will see Adelaide Odhiambo, CEO of Bluewave, join the Lami team as Director of Commercial Partnerships.

Her experience in the industry will be of substantial value to Lami’s growth as she has extensive knowledge of the processes that help distribute insurance to consumers through technology and partnerships.

“Africa has an ever-growing need for insurance solutions to help reduce the huge impact on the risk of the lack coverage creates by sinking its people into huge financial burdens. By joining forces with Lami, we look forward to moving faster in software development, marketing, expansion, and fast-track delivery of the most needed insurance solutions,” Adelaide Odhiambo, Founder, and CEO, Bluewave Insurance Agency.

Lami’s acquisition of Bluewave will help grow its presence across Africa by entering new markets where Bluewave is already operating with an expected business growth of 65,000 current policies and potential growth of hundreds of thousands expected in 2022 across Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since its inception, Bluewave has invested in building technology for its online platform that enables its clients to access micro-insurance products through diverse channels such as USSD, SMS, WEB Applications, IVR, telemedicine, mobile application support medical business among others.

Lami will integrate and repurpose Bluewaves technology into its core technology platform enhancing its B2B2C capabilities for partners and customers while introducing features such as USSD, WhatsApp bots, and claims dashboards.

Bluewave will continue to own its entity despite the acquisition. Through the acquisition, Lami will take over the Bluewave team and commercial partnerships to continue operations.