Susu, a French-African start-up that offers innovative health and insurance solutions for Africa, today announces a fundraising round of 4.5 million euros from INCO Ventures, Al Mada Ventures, JanngoCapital, Open CNP, with the participation of Health54 (CFAO Healthcare), Launch Africa Ventures, Five35 Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures and several business angels. With this equity round Susuintends to develop its healthcare services in Africa, expanding from Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Cameroon where the company has already attracted more than 7,000 clients.
The rising star of healthtech in Francophone Africa
Since its inception in 2019, Susu has had a clear ambition: to establish itself as the leader in healthtech inFrancophone Africa. On a continent where the population is booming and expected to reach 2 billioninhabitants by 2050, life expectancy is increasing while chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are proliferating. In this context, the startup’s services aim to improve access to accessible and affordable healthcare for the entire population.
Bola Bardet, co-founder and CEO of Susu, explains: “Our mission is to democratize access to healthcareacross the entire African continent, delivering quality care through innovative products and financing models. Our thanks go out to the investors who have trusted us by participating in this round, as well as to everyone who has supported us on this journey. This fundraising will allow us to continue our development and achieveour ambition of transforming the daily lives of millions of Africans. The financial support and partnershipopportunities provided by the funds will enable us to build an African leader in healthtech together.”
To effectively address the health access challenges faced by its customers, Susu has developed a service offering based on four pillars:
- A comprehensive range of health offers, catering to both healthy and vulnerable individuals: Susu’s offers include local and international health insurance coverage, as well astailor-made health bundles offering prevention, support, and care for seniors, people with chronic diseases, and pregnant women.
- A 360° digital platform which acts as an interface between beneficiaries, medical providers, financial contributors, and Susu’s internal teams.
- A high-quality medical network across all regions to bring access to healthcare to the greatest number, in collaboration with the continent’s top healthcare providers.
- Innovative health financing models leveraging third parties: Susu’s offers can be fully or partiallyfinanced by the African diaspora, relatives of the beneficiaries, employers, or charities.
Founded 4 years ago, with an initial commercial launch in France and Côte d’Ivoire, Susu has rapidly expanded its activities to Cameroon and Senegal while enriching its service portfolio. Today, Susu’s stafftotals about forty employees, spread between Paris, Abidjan, Douala, and Dakar.
Fundraising to amplify Susu’s impact
This investment offers the startup the opportunity to accelerate its growth, in particular:
- By expanding into new African countries in Francophone Africa and North Africa;
- By diversifying its acquisition strategy with new offers aimed at corporate clients, and B2B2Cand B2B partnerships with actors in the money transfer, banking, and insurance industries;
- By further improving its digital platform.
As part of this expansion, the young startup plans to recruit about ten new employees by 2024 tobolster its sales team, as well as its marketing, operations, and finance teams in both France and Africa.
“The commitment of the Susu teams towards reducing inequalities in health access, backed by aninnovative and virtuous economic model, completely won us over. We are very proud to join the Susuadventure, and the entire INCO team is excited to support them in their growth,” states CaroleCazassus, Investment Director at Inco Ventures.
“We were convinced by Susu’s vision, the quality of their team, and their technological solutionoffering unique services in a market at the intersection of financial, insurance, and health services,which are true vectors of economic and social progress. We are proud to lead this funding round,alongside top insurers, aimed at financing Susu’s expansion in Francophone Africa, developing new products, and increasing their accessibility to the most vulnerable, particularly pregnant women,”comments Fatoumata Bâ, Founder and Executive Chair of Janngo Capital.
“We are pleased to support the development of Susu, whose innovative health services contribute toredefining the boundaries of insurability. This initiative aligns perfectly with the purpose of CNPAssurances, and by extension, our corporate venture fund, Open CNP. We are excited aboutsupporting the Susu team in this adventure, thus reflecting our action aimed at promoting innovation and protecting as many people as possible,” says Alexandra Pailhes, head of Open CNP.
“The insurance sector in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be significantly under-capitalized, withan average penetration rate of less than 3%. Susu’s innovative solution breathes new life into theAfrican health sector by democratizing access and broadening the possibilities for the distribution of insurance products. We are delighted to support this committed and ambitious team in this impactful project,” states Omar Laalej, Managing Director of Al Mada Ventures.
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About Susu
Founded in 2019, Susu is a startup offering insurance health solutions and personalized healthpackages that can be financed by the African diaspora on behalf of beneficiaries based in their homecountries. Driven by key values such as innovation, kindness, family spirit, and commitment, Susuhas succeeded in improving the lives of thousands of families in France, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Cameroon. Today, the startup is acclaimed and has received multiple accolades for its innovative ideasand positive impact: it was part of the 2023 cohort of the Google for startups Black founders fund, and theTop 10 of the African business Heroes 2023 program, an initiative of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Foundation.To learn more: www.susu.fr
About Inco Ventures, for Generali Impact Investment, Abeille Impact Investing France, and Inco Investment
Inco Ventures is a European management company, expert in venture capital and a pioneer in impactinvesting, mobilizing over 500 million euros. It invests in the most promising startups and unlistedcompanies of the new inclusive and sustainable economy, and advises Funds on their investments orimpact measurement. To learn more: https://inco-group.co/fr/
About Janngo
Janngo builds, grows, and invests in pan-African digital champions with proven business models andinclusive social impact. We believe that technology & capital can leapfrog development and achieveSDGs in Africa. Janngo Capital invests between 50,000 and 5,000,000 euros in tech and tech-enabled startups across Africa, solving key market failures and creating green jobs focusing on womenand youth. Our portfolio companies are 56% female-led, 54% francophone and include soonicorn Sabiand fintech champion Expensya. We invest in all sectors, particularly healthcare, logistics, financialservices, retail, food & agribusiness, mobility, and creative industries. To find out more: www.janngo.africa
About CNP Assurances
Open CNP is the Corporate Venture fund of CNP Assurances. Operating in 19 countries worldwide,CNP Assurances is a leading insurance player with over 6,500 employees and a net income of €1,939million in 2022 (IFRS 4 Standard). A subsidiary of La Banque Postale, CNP Assurances is a memberof the large public financial group. In France, CNP Assurances is the No. 1 in real estate borrower insurance, No. 2 in life insurance, and in 2023, integrated the property insurance activities of LaBanque Postale, making it a complete insurer of property and persons. It is the 5th insurer in Europe,particularly in Italy, which is now its second market after France. In Brazil, its strong developmentpositions the Group in 3rd place. With its multi-partner model, its solutions are distributed in thecontext of long-term strategic partnerships, or in an ‘open’ model. In total, more than 32 million peoplearound the world are insured by CNP Assurances for provident/protection and 14 million forsavings/retirement. As a responsible insurer and investor (€400 billion invested in all sectors of theeconomy), CNP Assurances acts for an inclusive and sustainable society, bringing solutions to thegreatest number that protect and facilitate all life paths.
About Al Mada Ventures
“Al Mada Ventures (AMV) supports value-creating technological projects in Africa, from the Seed phaseto Series B stage and beyond. AMV invests in scalable, sustainable, and innovative companies thataim to reshape industries. Exclusively sponsored by African capital and with a century-long heritage ofinvestment on the continent, Al Mada Ventures is a partner that provides the necessary development toolsfor entrepreneurs and leaders looking to deploy transformative ideas globally.To learn more: Al Mada Ventures