Washington DC-based Gangkhar wants to bring insurance protection to underserved populations. The startup has raised $4.25 million in seed funding to expand its embedded insurance infrastructure across Latin America.
Impact investors Accion Ventures and EWA Capital participated, alongside fintech venture firm Anthemis and others.
Gangkhar is building the digital infrastructure that allows fintech firms, retailers and others to offer insurance directly within their existing customer experiences, without routing users to a separate third-party insurer on a separate app.
For example, delivery companies can wrap insurance coverage around every trip without building such capabilities in house. In a region where cargo and shipping theft remain common, that added coverage can provide an important layer of protection for delivery networks and the exporters that rely on them.
Financial resilience
Latin America remains one of the least insured regions in the world. “Insurance plays a critical role in helping small businesses and individuals manage shocks,” Accion Ventures’ Sebastian Molina Gasman told ImpactAlpha. “Helping close the protection gap in the region is an important goal in order to ensure that there is more financial stability in underserved populations.”
The venture arm of financial inclusion nonprofit Accion has invested nearly $60 million across 76 companies in more than 30 countries since its inception in 2019.
“If you reduce the friction and the cost of insurance, new distribution channels can emerge,” said Gasman. “That makes insurance more accessible and appealing for individuals and businesses.”
