Highly specialised in agriculture insurance and strongly focused on digitisation and technology, Newe is a leader in its segment and has taken a pioneering role in parametric insurance. The company is developing fully digitised weather and yield parametric products targeting small-scale farmers and people with low incomes living mainly in rural areas – a target group that is largely underserved by traditional, general insurance players. Newe is expected to reach over 1.9 million beneficiaries by 2027.

Brazil is the world’s largest net exporter of agricultural commodities. The agricultural sector employed over 15 million people and accounted for approximately 29.0% of the country’s GDP in 2021 1 . Although Brazilian food production is robust enough to meet both domestic and export demand, nearly one-third of the population remains food insecure. Projected climate change impacts to food production, agricultural livelihoods, and food security in Brazil are linked to future projected water supply constraints as well as temperature rise. Newe is addressing these challenges with its traditional agriculture insurance products, and soon with its innovative parametric rural insurance and parametric calamity insurance offering.

“Only a fraction of Brazilian farmers is protected by insurance against natural disasters. Vulnerable populations in cities are exposed to flash floods and landslides, with no insurance cover. We hold a strong conviction that Newe, with its experienced management team and staff, focus on innovation, and core competency in weather-related insurance, is well positioned to take advantage of these meaningful opportunities,” said Ernesto Costa, Senior Investment Director at BlueOrchard. “We are excited to partner with a well-positioned company, with a robust business model, high growth potential, and whose stakeholders are aligned with our goal of increasing climate resilience.”

The capital provided will support Newe in creating new affordable products for small-scale farmers and people with low incomes and reaching new markets within Brazil. The InsuResilience Investment strategy will appoint a nominee to the Board of Directors of Newe’s holding company.

“It is a privilege for Newe to partner with BlueOrchard and receive the incentives that will not only enable the pursuit of the company’s objectives related to insurance solutions for farmers against climate risks, but also support Newe’s drive for innovation. Recognised as a leading and reliable company in the Brazilian insurance sector, Newe strongly believes that traditional insurance agriculture products can be improved to better serve stakeholders, including customers, brokers, reinsurers, and public authorities. In this regard, parametric rural and calamity insurance can be effective and more appropriate solutions to mitigate climate risks and natural disasters and improve food security. Newe is developing its parametric offering with the support of a strategic data provider and the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA),” said Carlos Caputo, CEO of Newe.

The investment in Newe aligns with the vision and principles of the InsuResilience Investment strategy and the InsuResilience Global Partnership IRGP, which was launched at the 2017 UN Climate Conference COP23 by Germany. The vision is to strengthen the resilience of developing countries to the effects of climate change and to protect the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable people against extreme weather events and natural disasters. The objective is to enable more timely and reliable post-disaster response and offer insurance solutions to reduce impacts and help poor and vulnerable people recover more quickly.

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[1] Including activities such as processing and distribution (source: The University of São Paulo’s Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics).

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About Newe
Newe is a niche specialty insurance company that started its operations in January 2017 as the fronting business of the Brazilian reinsurance subsidy of an American insurer. In 2019, the top-management acquired 100% of Newe following the parent’s company decision to exit the Brazilian market. The company leverages big data to create and distribute agriculture insurance in Brazil targeting mid to low size farmers through cooperatives. Newe’s insurance products allow its clients to increase the stability of their business and to eliminate operational risks.

About BlueOrchard Finance Ltd
BlueOrchard is a leading global impact investment manager and member of the Schroders Group. As a pioneering impact investor, the firm is dedicated to generating lasting positive impact for communities and the environment, while aiming at providing attractive returns to investors. BlueOrchard was founded in 2001, by initiative of the UN, as the first commercial manager of microfinance debt investments worldwide. Today, the firm offers impact investment solutions across asset classes, connecting millions of entrepreneurs in emerging and frontier markets with investors with the aim to make impact investment solutions accessible to all and to advance the conscious use of capital. Being a professional investment manager and expert in innovative blended finance mandates, BlueOrchard has a sophisticated international investor base and is a trusted partner of leading global development finance institutions. To date, BlueOrchard has invested over USD 10 billion across more than 105 countries. Over 260 million underserved people in emerging and frontier markets received access to financial and related services with the support of BlueOrchard as of December 2022. For additional information, please visit: www.blueorchard.com.

 

For further information, please contact:

Tahmina Theis
+41 22 596 47 69
tahmina.theis@blueorchard.com

 

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