The round also included participation from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Lightspeed, a global technology focused investment firm, as well as existing investors, Intact Ventures and Munich Re Ventures.
ACKO, India’s leading digital insurance company, today announced a USD 255 million Series D fundraise led by General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, and Multiples Private Equity, a pre-eminent India focused private equity firm. The round also included participation from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Lightspeed, a global technology focused investment firm, as well as existing investors, Intact Ventures and Munich Re Ventures. This fundraise values the Company at USD 1.1 billion. The transaction is subject to approval by the country’s insurance regulator, IRDAI.
ACKO is one of India’s first digital-native insurers and has pioneered the direct-to-consumer auto insurance space in the country. It also has one of the largest market shares in embedded insurance products like mobility and gadget insurance across large digital consumer platforms like Amazon, MakeMyTrip, Ola, Urban Company, Bajaj Finance and others. In addition, ACKO covers nearly a million gig workers in the country through partnerships with companies including Zomato and Swiggy, with bespoke coverage to protect this large and rapidly growing workforce. Last year, ACKO entered the significantly underpenetrated health insurance vertical with a differentiated proposition focused on the employer-employee market. Its flagship retail health insurance product is due to launch by early next year.
ACKO’s total funds raised now stand at USD 450 million. Previously, ACKO has raised capital from respected investors including Amazon, Accel, Elevation, Ascent Capital, Intact Ventures, Munich Re Ventures and Flipkart’s co-founder Binny Bansal, among others. ACKO has over 70 million customers, clocking a run-rate of approximately USD 150 million in premiums, and has a large compounding base who continue to renew with ACKO for their long-term protection needs.
Varun Dua, ACKO’s Founder & CEO, said, “ACKO has meaningfully redefined the protection category for consumers and plans to continue innovating in the space. We strongly believe in supporting our customers in protecting their valued assets or the health and safety of their loved ones via a differentiated product and value-added service. Insurance and protection must work for people based on their unique risks and needs in a seamless, reliable fashion. We are thrilled to partner with trusted investors who have a deep understanding of the regulatory environment and bring first-hand experience in working with innovative, high-growth companies.”
The company intends to further invest in the healthcare vertical and scale its team, particularly within technology, product and data science. “We have succeeded on the auto front and will continue to scale and innovate in our flagship auto insurance business,” continued Dua. “We also continue to deepen our health strategy and intend to invest over USD 150 million in the health business in the near future. We believe health insurance products, claims innovation and a deeply connected ecosystem of health services that improve health outcomes for customers are today’s most urgent needs.”
Shantanu Rastogi, Managing Director, General Atlantic, said, “ACKO has developed a differentiated and scalable business model based on a singular customer focus, value-based pricing, highly-rated service and deep technology capabilities. Insurance is a large, fundamental sector in any economy, and in India specifically, the country is witnessing a rapid change of pace with rising customer expectations and technological innovation – requiring a fresh approach towards insurance product design, distribution and servicing. We believe that ACKO, with its disruptive business model and strength in execution, has the potential to emerge as an insurer-of-choice for the 100 million-strong digitally-native Indian customer base over the next decade and can play a meaningful role in shaping the future of insurance in India. General Atlantic is excited to partner with Varun and the ACKO team in this journey.”
Nithya Easwaran, Managing Director, Multiples Alternate Asset Management, said, “ACKO has revolutionized general insurance through its D2C technology led model, product innovation and exceptional customer experience. What stood out for us is Varun Dua’s entrepreneurial energy and superb execution over the last four years. Varun has aligned an outstanding team to his bold vision of building a customer centric insurance institution for new-age digital first India. True to Multiples’ vision of backing exceptional entrepreneurs to build distinctive businesses, we are delighted to partner with Varun and Acko in this promising, high growth journey.”
Aditya Sharma, Partner – Growth Equity, Lightspeed, said, “With its data-led direct to consumer model, cost leadership in claims fulfilment, and customer-first DNA, ACKO has crafted a new paradigm for technology-led, hassle-free insurance in the Indian market across auto and microinsurance. As a result, the Company is in a unique position to leverage this deep technology focus to drive inroads in health and other insurance verticals. ACKO is redefining how insurance is experienced in India.”
Barclays was the exclusive financial advisor to ACKO on this fundraise.
Source: Business World
