A big win for insurtech

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Hello readers,

Insurance is one of those things that seem like a necessary evil. You comb through policies, speak to agents, and fork out large amounts of money yearly, but you also hope that you never actually need to submit a claim. After all, that usually means something’s wrong.

Insurtech companies are looking to disrupt the status quo and change our relationship with insurance through the use of technology and innovation. It could very well be the next big thing, which makes the US$230 million investment into China-based Waterdrop all the more exciting.

Led by Swiss Re Group and Tencent, the round is reportedly the world’s largest financing round in the online insurtech industry in 2020 to date.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing how insurance will evolve in the years to come.

You can find all other important investment deals that happened in the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up.

Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that recently took place.

The biggest deals by country

🇨🇳 Waterdrop: The Chinese insurtech firm has raised US$230 million from Swiss Re Group, Tencent, and IDG Capital.

🇮🇳 Practo: A doctor discovery and booking platform for patients, Practo has raised US$32 million from A1A Corporation (RFQ Cloud), CapitalG (Google Capital), Matrix Partners and others.

🇹🇼 Ikala: Ikala, which aims to provide AI-focused digital transformation and data-driven marketing solutions to enterprises, has raised US$17 million from Hotung Investment Holdings, Pacific Venture Investments, and Wistron Corporation.

🇯🇵 Bitstar: An influencer marketing and media production company, Bitstar has raised US$9.4 million from Colopl Next, FORiT, and Dentsu, among other investors.

M&A

Going deeper

Pitch decks for your reference

Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia