WorldCover (YC Winter 2016)

WorldCover offers peer-to-peer investments that provide insurance to the global poor. We connect a growing pool of investors who seek uncorrelated investment returns and impact from their capital with a huge and growing need for natural disaster insurance in the developing world. WorldCover's platform improves food and income security for smallholder farmers in developing countries. More than 70% of the 2.5 billion people living at the “base of the pyramid” throughout the world rely on agriculture for income and sustenance. Farmers face a number of major risks to their livelihoods which they cannot control. Insurance gives them a sense of security even if they have a bad harvest, allowing them to improve their diets, invest in their farms, and send their children to school. In an increasi…