Glitterbug Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which owns online insurance platform Coverfox, has raised $22 million in a Series C funding round led by International Finance Corp. (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank Group, and existing investor Transamerica.
Other investors including SAIF partners, Accel and N.R. Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures also participated in the current round. Earlier in 2015, Coverfox had raised $12 million in its Series B round, and earlier in 2011, $2 million in its Series A round.
Coverfox will use the fresh investment to expand its geographical coverage across more Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and specifically address women’s needs.
According to its estimates, insurance penetration in rural India is 35% lower than urban areas in India, while women’s insurance coverage is 40% lower than men.
Coverfox aggregates insurance products offered by banking and other financial institutions on its platform. Users can compare, discover, and apply for plans online without the need of burdening paperwork.
Founded in 2013 by Devendra Rane, Coverfox has integrated with more than 35 insurers and offers more than 150 policies across motor, life and health insurance.
Premanshu Singh, chief executive officer of Coverfox told Mint that in terms of number of policies, motor insurance contributes to 85% of its portfolio.
Apart from offering insurance products, the firm also handles insurance claims and settlements through its platform. Till date, Coverfox has processed 11,000 claims across all three insurance segments it operates in. On an average, it processes 400 claims per month.
“In our motor insurance category, we provide a claim facility online, which is available in all major cities in India. We have tied up with a network of garages to help customers in vehicle repairs, and we have also set-up a hotline with all our insurers so that our users can directly settle claims with us instead of settling it with insurers,” Singh over the phone. According to Jun Zhang, IFC country head for India, India has one of the most underpenetrated insurance markets, with low penetration rates for women and rural populations.
“By investing in Coverfox, IFC is giving a push to the country’s digitization agenda by leveraging technology to deliver insurance products to customers outside metros and to women who are currently underserved,” said Zhang in a statement.
Coverfox competes with other online portals like Digit Insurance which was backed by Fairfax Financial Holdings in June 2017, and Policybazaar which raised money from Tiger Global, Premji Invest and others.
Digital payments firm Paytm which claims to have 300 million users, also floated two new insurance units in February to offer non-life and general insurance products. Mint reported recently that Paytm will launch a separate app to offer insurance products under its brand name.
Source: Mint