Tritech Media, the media technology group founded by South African entrepreneur William Kirsh, is looking to tap into the multi-billion rand South African insurance industry.
Today the company announced the acquisition of a 35% holding in ValueCard. Tritech Media has the option to increase its holding to 50.1%. The balance of the shares are majority owned by Christiaan Erasmus, founder and MD of ValueCard.
Newly-branded Thesl, which Kirsh translates to 'silver lining', has been established through the merging of ValueCard with Tritech Media-owned Opengate's insurance replacement interests, namely ClaimsCard and the Business Portal.
Tritech Media has been on the acquisition trail of late. In August, the company acquired a 25% holding in real-time location-based technology company ProximityID for an undisclosed amount. Other acquisitions include Geospatial Data Solutions. In April, Tritech Media announced it had acquired a 51% interest in Ionizr, a local provider of real-time proximity advertising technology, for an undisclosed amount. In December last year, the media company acquired a 45% stake in local gaming industry innovator GameZBoost.
Speaking to ITWeb this afternoon, Kirsh, CEO of Tritech Media and chairman of Thesl, said the transaction had two objectives. Firstly, on creating "a world first all-encompassing insurance replacement business and, secondly, the opportunity to meet the increasing demand by insurance companies for platforms to develop loyalty solutions."
According to Tritech, insurance replacement provides insurers with an alternative platform to using cash to replace lost or stolen goods. Due to the often misuse of cash, it notes, Thesl's insurance replacement platforms ensure that such items are actually replaced on the policy and reinsured.
Thesl has developed proprietary software called TenderSystem, which has been refined over the last 14 years, to streamline the procurement and claim settlement process through automation. This ensures that insurers settle claims while enhancing customer service and lowering premiums, due to an improved loss ratio, the company says.
"Thesl currently manages personal line and content claims on behalf of 15 leading insurers and hundreds of their brokers and underwriting managers in South Africa, in a market worth around R10 billion per annum," says Erasmus .
He adds that the business is diversifying into other sectors, such as automotive, which is substantially larger with a focus on mobile enablement and payment technologies such as NFC. Thesl's network expands to over 200 merchants and service providers, including some of SA's largest retailers, representing over 8 000 branches.
"Being part of the Tritech Media group enables us to further develop and expand our proprietary technology and grow the value-add for our clients as we leverage the wealth of technologies available in Tritech Media," says Erasmus.
"We look forward to the continuing evolution of Thesl and the positive impact it will have on the insurance industry," he concludes.
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