Digit Insurance a Bengaluru-based startup becomes the first company in 2021 to join the Unicorn club. The insure-tech startup has been valued at $1.9 billion following its latest undisclosed amount of funding. In October 2019, the company had raised $817 million in funding and has now attained the status of unicorn in a span four years.
The startup was founded by Kamesh Goyal in 2016 and the company started its operations in 2017. Mr. Goyal is an insurance industry veteran and has an experience of over 30 years in life and general insurance segments. Before Digit Insurance, Mr. Goyal has held many leadership roles at Allianz Insurance.
The company is backed by a Canada-based investment powerhouse, Fairfax Holding, their main investor. Besides that, Faering Capital, A91 Partners, and TVS Capital are the other investors in the company. In January 2020, Digit Insurance raised a funding of $84 million from these three growth equity investors.
Digit Insurance leverages cloud-based technology to make the process of buying general insurance for its customers simpler. It uses a smartphone-enabled self-inspection and audio claim process. The company boasts a customer base of 1.5 crores and claimed a growth of 31.9% last year. According to the company, between April and December 2020 it earned a premium of $186 million and has garnered profits in the three quarters of FY20-21.
The company has launched a COVID-19 product under the Sandbox Initiative of the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India). This new offering provides a fixed benefit to policyholders who contract the virus. Besides that, Digit has also launched a group illness insurance that covers more than 2 million citizens.
The startup in 2020 has also been listed by CB Insights in the Global Fintech 250 making it the only Indian company to do so.
