NSI Ventures leads round for Singapore insurance marketplace

CXA is a Singapore-based technology company that seeks to disrupt the traditional, offline insurance broking model by providing a platform from which employees can select a mix of insurance and wellness services to suit their individual needs. It currently has over 500 corporate clients - with 20 Fortune 500 companies signed up since last March - and 80,000 participants.

The goal is to surpass one million participants in Singapore by 2019, by which point revenues are projected to reach $100 million, up from the present $6 million. The new capital will support CXA's local and international growth, including opening a Hong Kong brokerage, scaling the technology platform for bank and insurance distributors, and hiring additional talent.

The company - which was founded by Rosaline Koo, formerly head of Mercer Marsh Benefits in Asia Pacific - estimates that companies are spending around $20 billion on employee benefits in the region, including $1 billion in Singapore alone.

CXA acquired Pan Group, Singapore's largest home-grown employee benefits brokerage, in early 2014, integrating its existing platform and expertise with the target's network and capabilities. This enables the company to provide everything from a one-size-fits-all brokerage solution to fully flexible benefits.

While employers' insurance contributions are typically used to cover the costs of employees who require treatment, CXA allows employees who are healthy or already covered by a spouse's program to convert the insurance dollars they do not need into "benefit dollars." These can be used to purchase health and wellness services from the CXA marketplace.

The company's online one-stop-shop approach is compared to that of US-based Zenefits, which manages benefits programs for small and medium-sized enterprises. The company was founded in 2013 and has received three rounds of funding, most recently $66.5 million from a group of investors that includes Andreessen Horowitz and Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto.

"The CXA model is a game changer for employee benefits in Asia. This paper-based industry is ripe for disruption, and we believe that CXA has a significant edge over the competition," said Ashish Shastry, managing partner at Northstar, who will join the CXA board.

NSI focuses on Series A and B investments in Southeast Asia-based technology companies. It has completed eight investments.

Four were made before the firm launched its debut fund: online grocery retailer Redmart, restaurant reservations site Chope, big data company Crayon Data, and online travel agent Oway. NSI has subsequently backed Indonesia motorcycle transportation and courier service Go-Jek, automated flatbred machine maker Zimplistic Inventions, CXA and another, as yet unnamed enterprise.

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• Topics
• Financials
• Venture
• Early-stage
• Southeast Asia
• Singapore
• Southeast Asia
• insurance
• Financial Services
• Northstar Group
• Venture