Affirma leads $217m investment in Korean digital insurer
Affirma Capital has led a KRW 300bn (USD 217m) funding round – at a valuation of KRW 1trn – for Carrot General Insurance, a South Korea-based digital insurer.
The round comprises two tranches: a KRW 175bn portion has already closed and an additional KRW 125bn will come during the fourth quarter. It features several investors from Carrot’s previous two rounds – the most recent was a USD 90m rights issue last year – including Hanwha Group, Stic Investments, and Altos Ventures.
Hanwha, Altos, and Stic were part of the founding investor group, alongside the likes of SK Telecom and Hyundai Motor Group. Hanwha is the controlling shareholder with 50.6% of voting power, followed by Stic on 15.5%, Altos on 10.2%, SK Telecom on 7.8%, and Tmap Mobility on 3.9%. Affirma has taken a 9.2% interest. Some dilution is expected when the second tranche closes.
Carrot was established in 2019 as Korea’s first fully-licensed 100% digital insurance carrier. A non-life insurer, its technology-enabled offering includes automated accident registration underpinned by artificial intelligence and sensor analytics that assess driving patterns and behaviour and help set premiums.
The new capital will be used to consolidate the company’s market-leading position, accelerate its technology capacity, and expand its product pipeline. The goal is to achieve break-even by 2024 and go public the following year.
“We have made very significant milestones while keeping the J-curve growth at even a faster pace, which I believe is driven by surging demand for simple and innovative insurance products to meet evolving customer needs in today's world,” said Richard Moon, CEO of Carrot, in a statement.
"Our big focus will be on agile and open innovation, which will speed up product development and technological innovation to fast-forward the future of insurance."
Carrot and Kyobo Lifeplanet Life Insurance were Korea’s first two digital insurers. Last year, US-based Cigna, parent of Lina Life Insurance of Korea, announced plans to enter the space, while in April Kakao Pay won regulatory approval to launch a digital insurance business.
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