Agricultural microinsurance startup IBISA announced that it has raised a seed round of €1.5 million — approximately $1.70 million. The round was led by London-based specialized investor Insurtech Gateway, with participation from Rockstart’s AgriFood fund and others. Microinsurance typically refers to offering coverage to low-income people against a specific class of risks. In IBISA’s case, these are small farmers whose livelihoods might be affected by adverse climate events, which are unfortunately on the rise. Since being founded in 2019, the company has worked with partners in the Philippines, India, and Niger. It now plans to use its funding to hire and expand its presence in existing and new markets. It’s easy to see why farmers might be relieved to get compensated when their crops get damaged. But there are also several reasons for them not to have agricultural insurance — most of them don’t, according to IBISA. On one hand, options might be too costly; on the other, paperwork to claim a payout might be too daunting.
Space tech and crowdsourcing aside, there’s also a blockchain element to IBISA, which sees it to keep costs low. Its name stands for “Inclusive Blockchain Insurance Using Space Assets,” and it has been accelerated by the European Union’s blockchain-focused project Block.IS. The company also recently presented itself at Rockstart‘s AgriFood demo day. At the time of joining the program last September, IBISA’s co-founder Jean-Baptiste Pleynet made mention of IBISA’s insurance, satellite and blockchain components, as well as of its potential to drive positive impact.