SCF #17
Under review
Qolaq Mutual Aid Platform (MAP) II

Developing the first Web3 mutual aid platform to drive financial inclusion for people who do not have traditional insurance cover.

Awarded
Awarded
Budget request:
$
150,000
*
WebsiteCode

Project Stage

Development

Category

Soroban
Wallets
DeFi

Based in

United States

Team size

18

Active since

2022
Products & Services

With the further support of the SCF, Qolaq seeks to undertake the following additional products/services to expand our mutual aid platform (MAP): (1) integration with Soroban ecosystem partners to enable on/off ramps, (2) developing Soroban smart contract for MAP’s next program focusing on Health, (3) finalize features (e.g., auto vote preferences) to facilitate member voting, (4) developing a multilingual AI engine for claim processing which will serve as an Oracle to our Soroban smart contract, and (5) building Qolaq's global community for financial inclusion.

Qolaq's MAP is a Web3 solution to the restrictive practices and inefficiencies of global health and life insurance, providing the underserved with mutual aid programs that enable Members to support each other in times of need. Qolaq is not an insurance company, so does not conduct underwriting, collect premiums or maintain reserves to pay claims. Qolaq provides programs and the MAP for its Members. Qolaq receives contributions from Members to operate the MAP.

Qolaq's MAP follows proven, successful mutual aid models of the past and is developing a Web3 platform with Soroban to facilitate immediate claim settlement and permit Members to collectively decide on claims with full transparency, removing conflicts of interest. Full Member privacy can be achieved while delivering fair and impartial participation. The costs for administering MAP will be transparent and can be recorded on chain. MAP's decentralized approach also removes significant operating costs/commissions of typical insurers. MAP programs are designed for the underserved seeking coverage but either do not have access to traditional insurers, have been rejected due to underwriting requirements, do not understand complex insurance policy terms or cannot afford monthly premiums.

Leveraging Soroban will enable automated remittance of claims upon Members' approval. Qolaq also seeks to access the existing financial rails through Stellar/Soroban to provide fiat on/off ramps for payments. Based on Stellar's commitment to financial inclusion, such collaboration will support Qolaq to reach beyond its initial markets to provide our decentralized MAP internationally.

No items found.
Previous Project(s)
SCF #12
Award recipient
Qolaq Mutual Aid Platform (MAP)
Developing the first Web3 mutual aid platform to drive financial inclusion for people who do not have traditional insurance cover.
Learn more
Progress so far

We completed all the deliverables which we submitted from our SCF#12 grant.  Specifically, we released our Beta II with Soroban smart contract. Members can now select which of our initial programs -- simple critical illness and/or life – they would like to join. The smart contract also connects with our functioning wallet to enable the automatic transfer of our native tokens, QLQ, when claims are authorized by the members.  We completed the successful audit of our Soroban smart contract by Beosin. We also had initial discussions with Stellar regarding Stellar Aid Assist and MoneyGram Access to explore potential collaboration.

Since being awarded the SCF#12 grant and launching our phased Beta release, approximately 10,000 members have signed up on our waitlist from around the world.  We have also engaged with 200 Beta users to share feedback on their experiences, which have been positive and demonstrated support for the QolaQ platform.  We have also increased our Telegram channel to over 1,000 subscribers.  Additionally, we have hosted several online and offline events to not only build awareness for QolaQ but also educate the community on why Soroban/Stellar is the best protocol for QolaQ’s platform.


We have built in functions including: check balance, transfer, burn, mint, distribute, etc. Please see the following link for code references:

https://github.com/QOLAQ/qolaq-soroban/tree/main/mutual_aid

Goals
To get there, we request a budget of  
$
150,000
*
  to:
Additional information

Qolaq's target market is people globally who do not have access to insurance due to a variety of restrictions including geography, underwriting requirements and/or income discrimination. Due to the prevailing restrictive practices of the insurance industry, only a small percentage of people can access insurance with on average only 9% in OECD countries and 4% in non-OECD countries having coverage. For example, in Indonesia, less than 5% of the 280 million inhabitants have either life or critical illness coverage. Many of the traditional insurance carriers operate only in major markets but not in second/third tier cities as it is costly to setup branch offices and service outlying communities. With SCF's support, Qolaq plans to address these restrictions and have a significant impact on the number of people who can access coverage to make our MAP to be the leading global, decentralized solution for everyone to participate in our mutual aid programs covering initially Critical Illness and Life with plans for expansion into Disability and Health.

An additional synergy in the future includes collaborating with the Stellar Aid Assist for crowd funding/P2P NGO efforts to reach refugees. Qolaq and Stellar's missions for financial inclusion and financial product access are aligned and could be mutually supportive. Qolaq also envisions leveraging its network of users in the future to participate in humanitarian efforts with other NGO agencies, including via Stellar Aid Assist.

Pitch deck
No items found.
Deliverables
First Deliverable

Voting is the last step in the claim processing at which time Members decide if the claim is approved or not.  We will have end points and UI completed where the Members can also track their voting history.

How can a reviewer check you completed your first deliverable?

Code, screenshots, demo

Links:
Qolaq Corporation

Qolaq is an international organization, bringing together people with diverse backgrounds and working in multiple regions to contrubute to achieving and delivering on our objective to provide the first Web3 MAP. Based on our collective industry experience, Qolaq's co-founders and team are driven to have a signficiant impact on financial inclusion globally, focusing on the inequities of the insurance industry, particularly people that have been overlooked/marginalized by insurance organizations.

Team

Key Team Members

Barry Lee

CEO & Co-Founder

20+ years working with venture-backed, technology companies, including 5+ years related to blockchain, insurtech and healthtech.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/barrymlee)


Lifedoory Hatumessen

COO & Co-Founder

Former digital marketer across industries — most recently building digital insurance channel of Sequis, a leading insurer, to profitability. Avid crypto investor over past 5+ years.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/lifedoory)


Glenn Kline

Executive Chairman & Co-Founder

30+ years' experience working with technology growth companies, including in governance roles and focusing on blockchain, international insurtech and healthtech.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/glenn-kline-272146200)


Firda Safridi

VP Engineering

Experienced engineer in blockchain at Tokenomy and Indodax as well as software development at Tokopedia.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/firda-safridi-01972392)


James Tedy

Tech Lead

Experienced Web3 software engineer developing full-stack applications at NFT & technology companies including Geekzwolf and QuestMate.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/jamestedy)


Reza Dwicahyanto

Product Manager

Experienced in product development at technology companies; Edutech & various Start Up.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/reza-dwicahyo-16a645172)


Mike Davis

Actuarial

25+ years' of international actuarial experience with Manulife and Prudential.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/mike-davies-2b5286a)


Stephanie Simmonet

Insurance/Insurtech

20+ years' insurance industry experience as former CEO and Chief New Solutions Officer at Prudential across Southeast Asia.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/stephanie-simonnet-8851b56)


James Weiss, PhD

Blockchain/AI

Distinguished professor at MIT Media Labs with Ph.D. from MIT focusing on intersection of blockchain and large datasets for AI.

LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/jameswweis)