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The encyclopedia · Software & IT · Product decision · 2019–

Figorr gave away sensors and sold insurers the data to cover perishables

Figorr's free IoT sensors monitor temperature and location; the data it sells to insurers unlocks coverage no one would write before.

Figorr (formerly Gricd)

the move

Food at the farm and vaccines in transit in Africa are lost because nobody can see what happened to them, and insurers will not cover a risk they cannot measure. Oghenetega Iortim built Figorr after losing produce in his own agro venture.

Figorr places IoT sensors in cold-storage setups for free and charges for access to the data they produce: temperature, humidity and location, fed in real time so a farm or pharmacy can catch a breach before it spoils the shipment. It started in 2019 with solar-powered storage cubes and pivoted to the monitoring layer in 2020.

The insight is to sell the data, not the sensor. Figorr accumulated years of risk profiles and then built a platform for insurers, so they could see enough to write tailored policies on fruit, fish and vaccines. With coverage, customers stop absorbing losses and prices stop being inflated by them.

why it works

  • Free hardware removes the adoption barrier to monitoring.
  • Selling data turns a sensor business into a recurring one.
  • Measured risk lets insurers price a market they could not see.
  • Coverage lets farmers pass on lower, steadier prices.
the payoffFree sensors; sell the risk data insurers needclever

what transfers

When a market will not start because of hidden risk, the way to light it up is to measure it; sell the visibility, not just the hardware.

what came after

Figorr raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by Atlantica Ventures and expanded beyond Nigeria into Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Its devices monitor vaccines and insulin in Nigeria's healthcare sector and horticulture in Kenya, betting that visible risk will turn perishables into an insurable class.

references

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