Start-up InsuranceDekho raises $150 million to expand its business

The highest series A round of funding ever received by an Indian insurance technology business, InsuranceDekho, was a $150 million equity and debt investment.

With participation from Investcorp, Avataar Ventures, and LeapFrog Investments, the equity round was co-led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and TVS Capital Funds.

By March 2023, InsuranceDekho, started in 2016 by Ankit Agrawal and Ish Babbar, hopes to reach an annual premium run rate of Rs 3,500 crore. The money will be used to advance technology, expand into new markets, and provide new health and lifestyle products. Additionally, the funds will be utilized to expand the leadership team and the company’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) insurance division.

“Although insurance is essential for everyone’s financial security, it only accounts for 4.2% of Indian GDP compared to 7.4% globally. Accessing the middle and lower-middle-class populations of India’s upcoming 1000 towns is crucial in this situation. In order to increase this penetration, InsuranceDekho provides a potent mechanism, according to TVS Capital Funds partner Praveen Sridharan.

TVS Shriram Growth Fund III, a subsidiary of TVS Capital, made an investment in the business (Rs 2,000 crore). Over 30 companies have received investments from TVS Capital totaling about Rs 3,500 crore. “We anticipate completely deploying Fund III by 2025 and introducing Fund IV. Our emphasis would be on commercial and financial services”, he declared.

“When it comes to insurance penetration in the nation, we need to go beyond the urban areas. By the end of the year, our advisors will be able to service every town and area of India, which is how we will achieve our goal of democratizing insurance for the general population, said Agrawal, chief executive officer and co-founder of InsuranceDekho.

India’s current insurance premiums are concentrated in metro and Tier 1 cities to an extent of over 85%. InsuranceDekho seeks to rectify this. 82% of InsuranceDekho’s premium comes from Tier 2 and higher locations as part of its goal to make insurance accessible across the nation. More than 1,300 towns contain it.

InsuranceDekho wants to have more than 200,000 insurance advisors using its platform by the end of this year. It functions with the majority of insurance companies and has direct connectivity with 46 insurance companies offering more than 380 products throughout India.

The InsuranceDekho fundraising round’s lone financial advisor was Haitong Securities India.