The one who is in your business, understands it best. This just got reaffirmed today, when Transamerica, an Aegon subsidiary which acts as the holding company for various life insurance companies and investment firms doing business primarily in the United States, lead a close to $15Mn Series C round in India’s online insurance services provider, Coverfox.
The company is also said to be in talks with Fosun Kinzon Capital, the venture capital unit of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, for additional funding, according to multiple sources.
It could invest around $5-10 million in the company as an extension of the current funding round. Fosun Kinzon Capital has invested in two Indian startups — technology-focused logistics company Delhivery and online travel search engine Ixigo.
With the Series C round of funding, the company’s valuation is speculated between $70 million and $100 million. So far, Coverfox has largely kept away from the life insurance segment, but it is now actively considering its entry into the space. This new funding round is likely to hasten its entry into the segment.
Couverfox was founded in 2013 by Varun Dua and Devendra Rane. Its current list of investors include SAIF Partners, Accel India and Catamaran Ventures – the family office of Infosys co-founder, NR Narayana Murthy.
Till now, the startup primarily focused on the bike and automobile insurance segment, which contributes over 50 percent of its overall revenue. It clocked premiums of Rs 140-150 crores for the financial year 2016-17.
The general insurance industry is relatively less cash intensive than the life insurance industry. The companies in this sector turn profitable in around five-seven years. In 2015-16, the general insurance industry underwrote direct premium of ₹96,379 crores, registering a growth rate of 13.81 percent.
Other reports suggests that Fosun, along with other investors, could also invest in Acko General Insurance, the company launched by Coverfox co-founder Varun Dua.
Last month, Acko raised $30 million in its seed funding round – first major funding round for a startup in the insurance tech space, and one of the largest seed round in India’s startup investing history. The company got registered in August last year under its parent company Acko Tech, and has recently got an in-principle regulatory clearance to launch a general insurance business in India.
The Mumbai-based Coverfox competes with the likes of Tiger Global and PremjiInvest-backed PolicyBazaar, as well as Unilazer Ventures-backed EasyPolicy, among others.
