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WorldCover investor and EchoVC founder Eghosa Omoigui believes the startup’s insurance offerings can actually help farmers improve yield. “Weather-risk drives a lot of decisions with these farmers on what to plant, when to plant, and how much to plant,” he said. “With the crop insurance option, the farmer says, ‘Instead of one hector, I can now plant two or three, because I’m covered.’ ”

WorldCover’s platform uses satellite imagery, on-ground sensors, mobile phones and data analytics to create insurance options for farmers whose crop yields are affected adversely by weather events — primarily lack of rain.

The product of WorldCover is certainly customer centric at its core. When initially launching, Chris went to Ghana and began speaking to the farmers there. To him, it was important they didn’t “sit around and design a product by committee,” but instead that they actually went and understood what the customer problems were.“I would ask a farmer, what’s your biggest problem today? What are you worried about today? Just a very general question, and they would say I’m worried that the rain won’t come. I’m worried that my crop will fail and there will be drought this year.” — Chris Sheehan, CEO WorldCover

Emerging markets and climate insurance focused  insurtech start-up WorldCover has partnered with the world’s largest ILS fund manager Nephila Capital, who will now provide some of the firms reinsurance protection through its Lloyd’s syndicate 2357.

With Nephila Capital onside for reinsurance capital as well, WorldCover is well-positioned for growth, working with a team that has an understanding of the challenges associated with parametric data-driven insurance products, as well as emerging market climate risk exposure.

Despite the technology underpinning WorldCover being really quite complicated (blockchain technology and machine learning), their product is amazingly simple; a crucial quality when doing business in rural areas where literacy levels are extremely poor. Essentially WorldCover is able to cut through the notoriously bureaucratic insurance claim system by ensuring insurance payments are automatically triggered once certain conditions are met, therefore increasing efficiency and eliminating fraudulent requests.

WorldCover is capable of providing premiums at a comparatively low-cost, which, like simplicity, is an essential part of their business model.

Over the last decade, there has been a global increase in the focus on climate change and the risks and dangers associated with it. And for good reason. Damage from climate-related disasters was in the billions of dollars in 2019 alone. California wildfires caused $25 billion in property damage, while Typhoon Hagibis in Japan cost an estimated $15 billion. Other extreme weather events, including rampant brush fires in Australia, widespread droughts in East Africa and severe flooding in South Asia, have had devastating consequences.

Like Kin, NYC-based WorldCover was created in response to climate-related disasters. It works to provide drought insurance to farmers in Africa. When first launched, WorldCover was available only in Ghana and covered only one crop: maize. Since then, the company has expanded to multiple markets in East and West Africa, covering four categories of crops: cereals, legumes, root vegetables and perennials. WorldCover uses a combination of satellite imagery and on-the-ground sensors to understand local weather patterns in order to create insurance options for farmers facing some of the world’s worst droughts. The company uses its satellites to monitor rainfall patterns and trigger payouts immediately.

Nephila assists insurtech WorldCover with reinsurance via Lloyd’s syndicate

Emerging markets and climate insurance focused  insurtech start-up WorldCover has partnered with the world's largest ILS fund manager Nephila Capital,

“It’s about using insurance to get rid of risk for these farmers and unlock opportunities for them,” Chris says. He says that research found that for farmers who received insurance (rather than cash grants) borrowed and invested more in their farms.

CropAssure has been developed by our team of agronomists to protect against weather events most detrimental to almond growth, specific to your region. We will pair you with a member of our agronomic team to develop an insurance product that fits your needs and your budget.

easily understandable policies that will protect you against the risks completely out of your control - unpredictable weather.

protect against weather events most detrimental to almond growth, specific to your region

Despite robust financial subsidies, many programs have found that selling insurance to poor African farmers is extremely challenging. This remains the case even when risk products are bundled with other services, such as community savings programs and training in how to improve crop yields. For instance, a 10-year-old government farm insurance program in Ghana has fallen far short of expectations, according to multiple observers—including the same Christopher Udry who inspired Sheehan to create WorldCover. Udry and colleagues reported in a March 2019 paper that the government insurance program had had little meaningful impact. In Kenya and Ethiopia, risk transfer programs aimed at pastoralists have had disappointing results, according to an extensively researched June 2019 article in Devex, which was underwritten by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation. Experts point to two main types of obstacles. First, there are enormous marketing and logistical challenges inherent in trying to sell small insurance policies to very poor farmers who’ve never heard of the concept, live in remote areas and may only speak indigenous languages. Second, it’s difficult to build customer loyalty for an abstract product that often doesn’t provide what farmers expect. The Devex story describes how some pastoralists thought they were putting money into a savings account. When they didn’t get their premiums back, “they start[ed] thinking that this product has failed them,” a coordinator said.

WorldCover began with pilot programs in several African countries. Four years on, it has sold drought insurance to about 30,000 customers. Its largest customer base is in Ghana, and it recently expanded into Kenya. But the firm has also encountered some of the same market barriers that have hampered other African microinsurance programs.

WorldCover began with pilot programs in several African countries. Four years on, it has sold drought insurance to about 30,000 customers. Its largest customer base is in Ghana, and it recently expanded into Kenya. But the firm has also encountered some of the same market barriers that have hampered other African microinsurance programs.

WorldCover uses technology to help commercial growers and agribusinesses reduce climate risk. Our featured product CropAssure is tailored to help almond growers protect against weather risk from frost and excess rain events.

The policies or “smart contracts” currently under development are based on blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. This avoids the need for paperwork and means payouts can be triggered automatically when certain conditions are met, such as a specific number of days of drought. The system uses high-resolution satellite images to detect rainfall and plant growth data.Conventional crop insurance is too expensive for more than 500m small farmers worldwide, says Christopher Sheehan, founder and chief executive of US-based WorldCover, which developed the system. “But with machine learning and blockchain technology, we can process these data very cheaply to produce a really simple crop insurance product with premiums of $20 to $50 for a farmer who might only be earning $3,000 a year.” Payments can be made using mobile money transfer services such as M-Pesa.