Indian Insurtech Startup InsuranceDekho Raises $150M to Grow SME Business

Indian fintech startup InsuranceDekho raised $150 million from a group of investors led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, an unusually large investment round that will help it target an underserved domestic market.

TVS Capital Funds led the equity and debt financing, the largest ever Series A round for an Indian insurance technology company, the startup said in a statement. Investcorp, Avataar Ventures and LeapFrog Investments participated.

InsuranceDekho — Hindi for “Check Out” Insurance — was founded by Ankit Agrawal and Ish Babbar in 2016. It will use the new capital to scale up technology and product, expand into new markets and expand the company’s business with small and medium-sized businesses. So can bankroll acquisitions.

Based in Gurgaon outside New Delhi, the company aims for an annual premium run rate of 35 billion rupees ($423 million) by March. It competes in a crowded market with rivals such as SoftBank Group Corp.-backed PB Fintech Ltd. its PolicyBazaar and Amazon.com Inc.-backed Acko General Insurance Ltd.

Most forms of insurance are still bought mainly by India’s urban population, who account for about three-quarters of policies sold. But digital startups like InsuranceDekho aim to reach smaller towns and rural buyers using technology for wider distribution.

“There are two Indias in India,” CEO Agrawal said in an interview. “The real India is in the small towns and villages where trust and affordability are the keys to buying insurance.”

The investment round came at a tough time for the global venture capital market. Funding in India fell to $2.7 billion last quarter, the lowest level in more than two years, according to CB Insights.

InsuranceDekho, a subsidiary of used car platform CarDekho, sells more than 80% of its insurance products outside the largest cities. The start-up covers around 1,300 cities and aims to enlist over 200,000 advisers on the platform by the end of the year.

Insurance penetration in India is about 4.2% of gross domestic product, compared with 12% in the US and below the global average of 7%, the company said, citing the India Brand Equity Foundation and Statista.

Photograph: The Goldman Sachs & Co. logo is displayed on the company’s booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York. Image credit: Bloomberg

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InsurTech Tech Funding