InsuranceDekho, an Indian insurance technology (Insuretech) platform, has raised $150 million in a Series A funding round led by Goldman Sachs and TVS Capital Funds.
Series A, a mix of equity and debt funding, also witnessed participation from Investcorp, Avataar Ventures and LeapFrog Investments.
The latest round of funding is the highest ever Series A raise for an Indian Insuretech company, which came at a time when the sector is reeling under a funding winter.
The insurance aggregator, which has its headquarters in Gurugram, is part of GirnarSoft, an IT solutions and services firm that owns CarDekho, an automobile aggregator that achieved unicorn status in 2021 after raising a pre-IPO round.
InsuranceDekho will use the fresh funding to scale up the product and technology operations, expand into new markets, introduce new products in the health and life segments, and expand the MSME insurance business.
A part of the funding will bolster the company’s management team. The startup also intends to look for inorganic expansion prospects.
Ankit Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of InsuranceDekho, believes that the company needs to move beyond the metropolitan zone to improve insurance penetration in India.
By the end of the year, he added that our tech-based solutions and empowered advisors would be able to service every town and region of India, helping us achieve our goal of democratizing insurance for the general population.
InsuranceDekho aims to increase insurance coverage in India
InsuranceDekho is a platform created by Ankit Agrawal and Ish Babbar in 2016, which enables customers to compare several insurance plans and select the one that best suits their needs.
With more than 380 policies available on its marketplace, it has worked with 46 insurance carriers. The startup wants to have more than 200,000 insurance advisors on its platform.
InsuranceDekho levies a commission of between 25 and 30 percent on the premiums collected for the insurance partners whose products it hosts on its platforms.
The startup currently has 80,000 insurance consultants and over 50 lakh customers on its network. By the end of 2023, it plans to increase this network to 2,000,000.
The Indian insurance industry accounts for less than 5% of the GDP. According to IRDAI data, India’s insurance penetration will be 4.2% of GDP in 2021-22. India lags far behind the global average of 7% of GDP penetration.
Moreover, metros and Tier 1 cities account for most insurance premiums. InsuranceDekho wants to change that by providing insurance to 600,000 villages in India.
Ish Babbar, co-founder and CTO, InsuranceDekho, said, “Insurance distribution in India is a complex problem that needs innovative solutions. The fundraising will enable us to deploy scalable Insurtech solutions in data analytics, artificial intelligence, last mile servicing and claims management while keeping customer experience at the core of everything.”
