Insurance policy platform Acko General Insurance Ltd has raised $255 million in a fresh funding round led by private equity majors General Atlantic and Multiples Private Equity, reported The Economic Times.
Other investors that participated in the round include Canada’s largest pension fund, CPPIB, and Lightspeed Growth. Existing investors such as Intact Ventures and Munich Re Ventures also contributed to the funding round.
With this round, the total valuation of the Bangalore-based company reaches $1.1 billion.
The startup said it plans to use the fresh funds to expand its healthcare offerings and hire more talent across technology, product and data science roles, according to TechCrunch.
Varun Dua, founder and chief executive, Acko, said, the firm continues to deepen its health strategy and intends to invest over $150 million in the health business shortly. It believes health insurance products, claims innovation and a deeply connected ecosystem of health services that improve health outcomes for customers are today’s most urgent needs.
“ACKO has meaningfully redefined the protection category for consumers and plans to continue innovating in the space. We strongly believe in supporting our customers in protecting their valued assets or the health and safety of their loved ones via a differentiated product and value-added service,” he said.
Interestingly, the fresh fundraise is also expected to have a secondary component, which is likely to take the round size to more than $300 million, ET reported, citing a person in the know. A secondary transaction involves an existing shareholder selling their stake to an incoming investor.
“As many as 80 per cent of the people who can buy health insurance still don’t have it in India, so the market is very large and untapped. It’s not a winner take all market and easily 10-20 large insurance manufacturers and brands can exist here like how it is globally,” added Dua.
Founded in 2016 by Dua, Acko provides offerings in auto, health and travel insurance segments where it has partnered with the likes of cab-aggregator Ola and Amazon for bite-sized insurance covers available through their respective apps.
Last year in July, Amazon Pay tied up with Acko to offer two- and four-wheeler insurance policies in India.
