At VEA Capital Partners, we invest in conviction, not just companies. That means we back teams with the courage to disrupt, the discipline to build, and the grit to grow. Our second official investment under the VCP mandate checks all three: Apex Underwriters.
Apex is not your typical insurance venture. It’s a new-age underwriting firm engineered to solve one of South Africa’s most entrenched challenges: the disconnect between traditional risk frameworks and the fast-changing realities of modern business and personal insurance. With data-led products, deep risk stratification, and agile decision-making, Apex is rebuilding trust in underwriting, and re-establishing it as a partner, not a gatekeeper.
“They’re not here to incrementally improve the system,” says Zander de Witt, Co-Founder & MD of VEA Capital Partners. “They’re rebuilding it from scratch, smarter, leaner, and with the customer in mind.”
Founded by insurance powerhouse Sharon de Villiers, Apex is rooted in deep technical know-how and a relentless commitment to improving both the experience and outcomes of underwriting. Sharon has spent more than two decades navigating the insurance landscape, from corporate corridors to broker networks, and saw firsthand the inefficiencies, misaligned incentives, and slow evolution that plague the industry.
Her vision for Apex is simple: “Risk Redefined.”
A Model Built for the Next Decade
Apex is being launched at a time when insurance customers are demanding clarity, personalisation, and faster, more aligned decisions. But very few underwriters are innovating beyond compliance and margin management.
That’s where Apex is different.
- They are digitising the assessment process without compromising actuarial rigour.
- They are building partnerships with brokers based on co-creation, not constraint.
- They are designing products from the ground up that serve real-world needs, in agriculture, mobility, home protection, and more.
- And most of all, they are doing it with integrity, not vanity metrics.
“We didn’t set out to be just another underwriting agency,” says founder Sharon de Villiers. “We set out to become a trusted lens through which the future of risk is seen clearly, courageously, and with accountability.”
Why We Invested
The opportunity with Apex Underwriters was clear: a proven founder with deep industry credibility, entering a fragmented but essential sector, with the right playbook for disruption.
The early stages of our due diligence revealed four distinct advantages that made Apex a compelling VCP investment:
- Category Demand Meets Execution Clarity
South Africa’s under-served segments in agriculture, property risk, and small enterprise require smarter coverage models. Apex’s team has the expertise and urgency to act on that now. - Founder-Led Agility
Sharon is a high-trust, high-performance operator with a track record of delivering. She leads with confidence, not ego, and executes with speed. - Long-Term Strategic Fit
Apex is aligned with VEA’s broader financial services strategy providing a vital layer of risk intelligence across multiple industries, including agri, logistics, and infrastructure. - Strong Early Signals
Even pre-launch, Apex had broker channel traction, initial underwriting agreements in place, and a high-calibre pipeline of future hires and advisors.
“Sometimes the numbers tell you a story. But with Apex, the person did,” says Reinhardt Rood, Co-Founder and CEO of VEA Capital Partners. “Backing Sharon was a no-brainer. She is the future of insurance.”
Capital with Conviction
Our capital allocation to Apex Underwriters is structured to support rapid product testing, system integration, compliance buildout, and the hiring of a specialised underwriting team. But more than that, we’re giving Apex the space and backing to rethink the fundamentals.
Over the next 12 months, Apex will:
- Launch 4 underwriting lines across property, motor, agri, and lifestyle
- Integrate AI-based risk scoring in its quoting tools
- Expand into 3 major regional broker networks
- Recruit and onboard 12+ underwriters and portfolio managers
- Build out full CRM and policy administration systems with automated compliance workflows
“This isn’t a race to go live,” says Marno Nel, VEA Capital Partners Founder. “It’s a race to build something real, that serves people, serves brokers, and restores dignity to the process.”
Built for Trust, Backed for Scale
In our view, Apex is the kind of business that doesn’t just play in a market, it defines a new one. Sharon and her team understand that underwriting isn’t just about risk. It’s about belief. Belief in process. Belief in protection. Belief in people.
We’re proud to stand behind that belief, and even prouder to call Apex part of our founding portfolio.
Want to get in touch with Apex Underwriters?
📧 Contact: [email protected]
📱 Mobile: 083 325 5707
