InsuranceDekho, a leading Indian insurtech player, raised a whopping $150 million in a funding round comprised of both equity and debt on Tuesday. This would be the largest series A round ever raised by an Indian insurtech company. The equity round was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and TVS Capital Funds.
The funding round was also attended by Investcorp, Avataar Ventures, and LeapFrog Investments. Meanwhile, Haitong Securities India served as the fundraising's sole financial advisor.
InsuranceDekho said in a statement that the new funding will be used to scale up its product and technology functions, expand into new markets, launch new innovative products in the health and life categories, grow the company's Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME) insurance business, strengthen its leadership team, and pursue inorganic growth opportunities.
According to Ish Babbar, CTO and Co-Founder of InsuranceDekho, the funding will allow us to deploy scalable Insurtech solutions in the areas of data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, last-mile servicing, and claims management, all while keeping the customer experience at the forefront of everything.
InsuranceDekho, founded in 2016 by Ankit Agrawal and Ish Babbar, has seen significant premium growth since its inception. By March 2023, the insurtech hopes to have an annualised premium run rate of 3,500 crores.
"It's heartening to see that InsuranceDekho, under Ankit's leadership, has come a long way as it continues to disrupt the Insurtech space in India by leveraging its unparalleled unit economics, the best technology, phenomenal partner practises, and innovation to set new benchmarks in stakeholder experience," said Amit Jain, CEO and Co-founder, CarDekho Group, of the latest fundraise.
InsuranceDekho has demonstrated a proven ability to bring new-to-insurance channel partners to their platform, while empowering them through technology-based solutions and working closely with insurers, according to Rajat Sood, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Sood added that Goldman Sachs AMC is looking forward to leveraging its global domain expertise and assisting the management team in its nationwide expansion to provide broader coverage and more solutions.
Further, on the latest funding, Ankit Agrawal, CEO, and Co-founder said of InsuranceDekho said, "to realize our goal of democratizing insurance for the general public, we are expanding our reach and will continue to build on our tech-based solutions and empowered advisors so that they can serve every village and region of India by the end of the year. India is on the verge of a revolution in insurance, and InsuranceDekho is well positioned to meet the insurance needs of every Indian."
Currently, India's current insurance penetration is 4.2% of GDP compared to 12% in the USA and 7%2 globally. And about 85% of India’s existing insurance premium is centered in the metros and Tier 1 cities. InsuranceDekho aims to change that!
As per Praveen Sridharan, Partner, TVS Capital Funds, though insurance is vital for the financial security of everyone, its penetration is still at 4.2% of Indian GDP compared to a global overage of 7.4%. The key to this is to access the middle and lower middle-income class—the next 400 million—living in the next 1000 towns of India. InsuranceDekho, with its agency model and digital DNA, offers a powerful mechanism for this penetration to expand.
Sridharan added, "We are convinced on the InsuranceDekho model. Of course, we always back founders who can demonstrate bringing alpha and were impressed with Ankit and the team basis their execution capability, operational excellence, and superior technology skills. We are delighted to partner in their journey of enabling access to insurance products to the 600,000 villages of India."
InsuranceDekho receives 82% of its premium from Tier 2 and beyond regions in order to provide insurance across the country. At the moment, the company has a presence in over 1,300 towns, covering 98% of India's pin codes.
The company is attempting to achieve 100% penetration in the country.
The insurtech player hopes to have over 2 lakh insurance advisors active on its platform by the end of 2023.
According to InsuranceDekho, most InsuranceDekho insurance advisors see a threefold increase in total household income within six months of joining the company. The ability of the advisor to earn more allows them to significantly improve the standard of living for their families.
Headquartered in Gurgaon, InsuranceDekho works with most insurance providers and has direct integration with 46 insurance companies across India offering more than 380 insurance products including 175 products for health and life.
InsuranceDekho intends to expand its portfolio by offering more products in near future.