Pineapple, believed to be South Africa’s first peer-to-peer insurance company, has been accepted into Google’s Launchpad accelerator.
There have been eight batches of start-ups accepted into the accelerator over the past three years. This includes start-ups from tech hubs such as Singapore, Tel Aviv and Kenya as well economic power houses such as India, Russia and Brazil.
Google’s Launchpad regional accelerators are tailored specifically to their local markets, and provide access to the best of Google – its people, network, and advanced technologies – helping start-ups build great products. The Launchpad Accelerator Africa programme is aimed at early-stage African start-ups and operates out of Lagos, Nigeria.
To be eligible for the programme, the start-ups must be based in sub-Saharan Africa, have already raised seed funding and be targeting the Africa market.
Pineapple is the first-ever Insurance start-up accepted into Google’s accelerator, and the team will now receive equity-free funding as well as support from Google engineers to help them improve their offering. It will also give them access to Google’s global network.
Pineapple’s Matthew Smith comment: “We are very excited to see how we can leverage this to improve our AI and marketing capabilities.”
Pineapple is a company that is run by a group of young South Africans. Earlier in the month they launched the world’s first decentralised insurance offering. Another innovation allows members to insure their things in the snap of a picture.
The Pineapple team will start the journey with a trip to Lagos to explore potential expansion into Africa as well as have a look at Google’s African hub.