SAIF, Accel in $30m round for India insurance start-up Acko
Acko General Insurance, an Indian online insurance broker, has raised $30 million from a group of investors including SAIF Partners and Accel Partners.
Catamaran Ventures also participated in the funding round, along with a number of individual investors. The company will use the new capital to enhance its technology and build brand awareness. Acko recently received approval in principle to launch a general insurance business in India and is currently awaiting final approval.
The company was founded last year by Varun Dua, a co-founder of online insurance marketplace Coverfox, which is also backed by Accel and SAIF. Unlike the earlier start-up Acko aims to go beyond providing customers with quotes from insurance companies by offering its own insurance products.
Acko will create personalized, small-ticket products mostly in the general and car insurance spaces. Its technology platform uses data analytics to create personalized risk profiles for customers and to offer them insurance products customized to their needs and price level.
“We believe fintech worldwide and especially in India is going to evolve from enabling convenient distribution to disruptive product creation, and Acko is an endeavor in line with this evolution,” said Vivek Mathur, managing director for SAIF. “Consumers need to be given more innovative product choices, at a price point that is designed for them and at an unparalleled convenience and service levels.”
SAIF is investing from its second India fund, which launched in 2014 and closed the following year at $350 million. The fund seeks early and growth stage investments in companies across a range of sectors, including financial technology, manufacturing, media, medical and travel and hospitality. Recent India fintech investments include a $12 million Series A round for online tax filing website ClearTax and a $200 million round for online payments and e-commerce platform Paytm alongside China’s Alibaba Group.
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