InsuranceDekho bags $150m to ‘democratize’ insurance in India

The InsuranceDekho team / Photo credit: InsuranceDekho

India’s insurance penetration stood at only 4.2% of its gross domestic product in 2021, trailing the global average of 7%. Moreover, a majority of insurance premiums are concentrated in metros and Tier 1 cities.

InsuranceDekho aims to change that picture by helping 600,000 villages in India gain access to insurance.

The startup has just raised US$150 million in series A funding, which consists of a mix of equity and debt from a slew of investors, including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, TVS Capital Funds, Investcorp, Avataar Ventures, and LeapFrog Investments.

This is the largest series A round ever raised by an Indian insurtech firm, according to a media release.

Founded by Ankit Agrawal and Ish Babbar in 2016, InsuranceDekho allows consumers to compare different insurance policies and choose the most suitable plan. It has partnered with 46 insurance companies so far, with more than 380 plans on its platform. The startup aims to have more than 200,000 insurance advisers on its platform.

“We need to go beyond the urban regions,” CEO and co-founder Agrawal said. “We will continue to build on our tech-based solutions and empowered advisors so that they can serve every village and region of India by the end of the year.”

Praveen Sridharan, a partner at TVS Capital Funds, said the VC firm is convinced of InsuranceDekho’s “agency model and digital DNA.”

The startup will also use the funding to launch new products in the health and life categories and grow its MSME insurance portfolio, among other things.

InsuranceDekho is part of car-search unicorn CarDekho Group.

See also: Can China’s ‘one for all, all for one’ approach to health insurance work in SEA?