True North, IDG in $77m round for India's Policybazaar
Indian online financial services portal Policybazaar has raised INR5 billion ($77 million) from a group of investors led by True North, IDG Venture Partners, and US-based Wellington Management.
Existing backers including Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, Tiger Global Management and PremjiInvest – the family office of Wipro Group chairman Azim Premji – also took part, according to media reports linked from Policybazaar’s Twitter feed. The new investment values the company at around $500 million.
Policybazaar will use the new capital to invest in technology in order to improve customer services, particularly loan and credit card business Paisa Bazaar. The investment will also support Policybazaar’s international expansion: the company intends to enter the Middle East by the end of the year.
Founded in 2008, Policybazaar operates an online portal that allows consumers to compare competing bids for financial products. The company is best known for its general and life insurance marketplace, though it also provides quotes for consumer lending and credit and plans to add a mutual fund marketplace in the near future.
Policybazaar has received significant VC backing. AVCJ Research has records of more than $70 million in investments since 2011 from backers including Intel Capital and Inventus Capital Partners. Its competitors include online insurance brokers Acko General Insurance and Coverfox, both of which are backed by Accel Partners and SAIF India.
True North was previously known as India Value Fund Advisors before its reorganization and rebranding earlier this year. The firm invests across a range of sectors, including financial services, healthcare, technology products and services, and consumer goods and services. Currently, it is investing its fifth India-focused fund, which closed in 2015 at the hard cap of $700 million.
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