EasyPolicy, an online insurance policy aggregator, has today raised around Rs. 15 crore in it’s fresh round of funding from Unilazer Ventures, the investment arm of Ronnie Screwvala, founder of UTV Group.
Apart from Unilazer Ventures, early-stage investor Anil Jain, founder and managing director of Refex Energy, has also participated in the latest round. With fresh capital pouring in, the company will now further build its technology platform, enhance its product portfolio, and will also strengthen its marketing team.
Founded in 2011, Easypolicy aims to make insurance simple and easy for users. The platform, like most others in this particular segment, allows users to compare quotes from various insurance companies, make price-feature comparisons and see what each company has to offer.
Insurance aggregation space in India has gained aggressive pace in recent years — both in terms of funds being poured in and the overall usage by the usually conservative Indian. The next big thing in consumer internet has to be Insurance Ecommerce, acknowledges Alok Bhatnagar, Founding CEO of Easypolicy.com. Bhatnagar further tells me,
With backing of renowned investors, we are really raring to go and would take a stab at market leadership within next 2 years. The macro environment with an insurance friendly regime at centre, online supportive regulator and heightened investor interest, the sector is all set for exploding to great heights in coming time.
As for the money, this sector is perhaps one of the leading ones in terms of funding metrics. PolicyBazar for example, which is backed by Tiger Global and Info Edge, recently raised $40 million in April last year, led by Wipro founder Aziz Premji.
In July 2015, BankBazaar raised a massive $55 Million in its Series C round of funding, led by Amazon, along with the participation from Fidelity Growth Partners and Mousse Partners. Also, in September 2015, Mumbai-based Coverfox Insurance Broking raised an undisclosed funding from Catamaran Ventures.
Ronnie Screwvala, who invested in this funding round, says,
There are high entry barriers in this space, and that is something that we like. There is a dominant player at the moment, but there is also a tremendous opportunity for a strong number two, to emerge and close the gap.
EasyPolicy’s growth figures are showing strong growth. Bhatnagar claims, that his platform has seen a staggering 500% growth in revenues over last 2 years and wants to “surprise the world with sheer growth with this [fresh capital] infusion”.
As for Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures, this is their second investment this year. This week, it led the funding round of Rs. 9 crore in online smartphone and gadget accessories store – DailyObjects.
