13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Startup Neem enters insurance sector with EFU Life partnership
Embedded finance platform Neem, which has raised over $4 million in seed funding from global and local investors, announced a strategic partnership with EFU Life, marking its entry into the insurance sector.
According to a statement released Tuesday, EFU Life's offerings will soon be integrated into Neem Paymenow, a Shariah-compliant earned wage access platform.
This will help employees access and pay for Islamic insurance products, like life, health, and accident coverage, directly within the platform where they receive their salaries, the startup said.
With Neem's 'Payment Button', EFU Life customers can pay digitally via cards, wallets, bank transfers etc.
Payments are auto-matched to policy numbers, reducing manual errors and delays, which speeds up reconciliation and minimises manual effort, the company said.
Neem is also helping EFU Life build a white-labeled wallet system. It will allow customers to store funds, top up through various methods, and use those funds for premium payments, policy purchases, and claims disbursements.
'The integration of Neem's payment platform has helped us reimagine how premiums are collected—making the process faster, more secure, and customer-friendly,' said Azeem Pirani, COO at EFU Life.
'By digitizing this critical touchpoint, we're improving efficiency for our teams and convenience for our policyholders, while laying the foundation for a more inclusive insurance experience,' he added.
Pakistan's Neem secures $4mn credit facility from DNI Group
Why insurance?
Speaking to Business Recorder, Nadeem Shaikh, co-founder at Neem, explained that 'insurance stood out as a critical sector where both access and digital infrastructure are limited.'
'It's also a key pillar of financial well-being, yet remains largely underpenetrated. By entering this space, we saw a clear opportunity to simplify access to insurance and digitise the entire value chain—from premium collection to claims—through embedded payments and wallet infrastructure.'
'This not only helps insurers go live faster but also improves operational efficiency and opens up new revenue opportunities, while making insurance more accessible and seamless for their customers, millions of Pakistani people,' he added.
In its statement, Neem said that despite a growing need for financial protection in Pakistan, the sector remains underdeveloped, with penetration still below 1% of GDP, far behind regional standards.
This is partly due to outdated, cash-heavy processes and Neem is solving these challenges by directly embedding a robust digital payment and wallet infrastructure into the insurance journey.
Neem plans to work with other insurers in the future to embed digital payments and wallets into their offerings.
Shaikh also told Business Recorder that Neem is sector-agnostic, and focuses on embedding financial products where they're most needed.
Beyond insurance, Neem is already active across key sectors including healthcare (Sehat Kahani), logistics (Smartlane, TCS), mobility (ezBike), agriculture (Bakhabar Kissan, Farm2Home), education (Edkasa), retail (Sana Safinaz, Union Fabrics), lifestyle (Davaam, Padelverse) and e-commerce ( Fenrir, EcommDeals).
'Going forward, we'll deepen our presence in these verticals through strategic partnerships and tailored financial solutions,' he said.
