OKO Ltd

OKO provides index insurance and other farming-related services to smallholder farmers in emerging countries. It monitors rainfall and crop evolution, and uses a direct interface with farmers and a unique distribution network, OKO helps to protect farmers and unlocks their access to financing.

OKO uses satellite information to define risk and create insurance products for farmers in emerging markets. It then uses mobile technologies to distribute insurance, collect premiums, help farmers and pay claims automatically in the event of adverse weather.

In July 2018 OKO launched its first pilot in Mali, which was made accessible though Orange payments, with underwritten costs covered by Allianz.

Also in 2018, it was revealed OKO would be one of the startups competing at the annual World Summit Awards (WSA), an international competition promoting local digital innovation that positively impacts society.

In August 2019 OKO began a 3-year partnership with Allianz, with the two collaborating to develop index-insurance products that automatically compensate Africa-based farmers when they face bad weather. This is the second step in a collaboration that started with the aforementioned a pilot programme in Mali where OKO demonstrated its ability to bring insurance to un-banked populations using mobile phones.

In 2020 OKO helped more than 1,000 farmers who were impacted by flooding.

In April 2021 OKO raised $1.2m in Seed funding to help protect African farmers' incomes. The company, which revealed it already had 7k customers in Mali, plans to use the funds to further expand in Uganda, and along the Ivory Coast.

In June 2022 Oko raised a $500K Seed extension, to help with its plans to expand in Ivory Coast and also work towards a Series A. The startup operates in Mali and Uganda and from 2020 to 2021 the company saw a 6x growth of customers - it now serves more than 15K farmers.