ROX Equity Partners, a UK based private equity company, has acquired SilverBridge, a South African financial services technology provider

SilverBridge has become the first subsidiary in the newly established Alula Technologies group providing solutions to the insurance and health industries.

As an organisation that has demonstrated its ability to operate in complex markets, ROX has created the Alula Technologies Group and will provide SilverBridge with access to capital, experience, and networks to further strengthen its position.

“Becoming part of Alula will assist SilverBridge to strengthen our business to the benefit of our clients and people. It also helps us execute our international strategy more effectively and reflects on how the level of innovation in South African technology businesses is attracting global interest,” said Lee Kuyper, CEO at SilverBridge and Alula Insurance Technologies.

According to Kuyper, even though local businesses have strong capabilities and skills, a lot of technology is undervalued especially around financial services.

“We have a mature financial services sector that is globally competitive. SilverBridge has gone through an extensive process where the company benchmarked itself against international competition and has found that it can compete with the best in the world. As part of Alula, we now have the opportunity to grow our foothold in the African market and expand into new global markets. The acquisition does not change our strategy, instead, it empowers us to execute and accelerate on it,” said Kuyper.

In addition to growing and internationalising the SilverBridge business, Alula will look to acquire other relevant companies and technologies to enable it to provide more value to clients in the health and insurance sectors.

The SilverBridge product suite will remain the foundation of what it aims to do. With a focus on the modernisation of life insurance and pension fund administration and the intelligent automation of underwriting and claims decision making.

“Africa, and exploring the business potential across the continent, will remain a key part of our focus in the future. SilverBridge, through the Alula brand, will also look to capitalise on the opportunities in the UK, the fourth largest insurance market in the world. This makes sense as the South African insurance sector has many similarities to the UK,” concluded Kuyper.