Thailand’s InVent invests in Singaporean insurtech Igloo

Other investors participating include Openspace Ventures, Linear Capital, Singtel Innov8, Cathay Innovation and Partech Partners. Linear and Openspace previously contributed seed funding to the start-up in 2018, according to AVCJ Research.

Founded in 2016, Igloo partners with digital enterprises to offer micro-insurance solutions to consumers and businesses. It helps them insure smartphones – including smartphone components like phone screens – and losses suffered during the transport of goods while offering travel insurance during the travel booking process. The start-up says that it has facilitated 50 million transactions over the past year.

Igloo also creates new distribution channels for traditional insurance underwriters operating in the region such as Allianz, Baoviet, FWD Singapore, Mercantile and Sompo. It counts Malaysia and Indonesia as major markets and plans to introduce its solutions to customers and businesses in Vietnam and Thailand.

With the fresh capital, Igloo plans to double its business development and engineering teams as well. The company said only 6% of insurance solutions currently use a digital distribution channel in the region, but that it expects the proportion to rise in the coming years. 

“Insurtech companies are at the forefront of driving digital transformation in the digital industry, creating innovative products to serve millennials better. We believe that Igloo’s advanced tech stack can drive real change in the industry and bring the focus back to consumers’ needs,” said Narongpon Boonsongpaisan, head of InVent.

InVent’s parent Intouch, which counts AIS, Thailand's largest telecom operator, as a subsidiary, is one of the few active and prominent VC backers of start-ups in Thailand’s start-up ecosystem.

Other VC-backed insurtech firms operating in Thailand include Sunday, which is backed by Quona Capital. PasarPolis, AXA MyPage, and Fuse, which are backed by EV Growth, operate in Indonesia in a similar manner­­. There are also many financial technology companies that offer digital-first insurance products for large-ticket items such as automobiles and homes working across the region.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Technology
• Early-stage
• insurance
• InVent
• Openspace Ventures