Pula has announced that it has raised Ksh.600 million (USD 6 million) in Series A funding. The Series A fund was led by TLcom Capital, with the participation of Women’s World Banking (WWB).
The new investment will be used to scale up operations in the company’s existing 13 markets across Africa. Currently, Pula has impacted over 4.3 million farmers on the continent and the new funding will also help propel its expansion into Asia to power resilience and profitability for Asian smallholder farmers.
Launched in 2015 by Rose Goslinga and Thomas Njeru, Pula designs and delivers innovative agricultural insurance and digital products to help smallholder farmers endure climate risks, improve their farming practices and bolster their incomes over time.
Speaking on the new fundraiser, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Pula, Rose Goslinga, said, “When Thomas and I launched Pula in 2015, we had one goal in mind; to build and deliver scalable insurance solutions for Africa’s 700mn smallholder farmers and with our latest funding, now is the time to break into new ground.”
Through its partnerships with banks, governments and agricultural input companies, Pula is at the center of an ecosystem which provides insurance to smallholder farmers and has amassed 50 insurance partners, as well as six reinsurance partners.
Maurizio Caio, Managing Partner and Founder at TLcom Capital, stated, “In Pula, we found a company addressing a hugely underserved market in one of Africa’s key drivers of growth and with this, an opportunity for major economic upside.”
Christina Juhasz, CIO at Women’s World Banking, also states, “Given the legions of women engaged in small-hold farming and securing the food supply for communities around the globe, Women’s World Banking (WWB) is delighted to partner with Pula Advisors in providing them financial safety nets against the risks of pests, disease and climate change”.
In 2018, Pula announced the close of its Ksh. 100 million ($1million) seed round from Rocher Participations with support from Accion Venture Lab, Omidyar Network and several angel investors. Previous funders have included the Bill; Melinda Gates Foundation, Mulago Foundation and Mercy Corps Social Ventures and the company presence in Africa currently extends to Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.