Acko could raise $200 Mn in the new funding round. According to a Bloomberg report, the startup is also considering public listing this year
If the funding round comes through, Acko would be the 12th Indian startup to enter the unicorn club so far this year
Mumbai-based Acko is an independent digital general insurance company, which creates products and delivers opportunities in areas such as personalised insurance products based on user consumption behaviour
Amazon-backed insurance tech startup Acko General Insurance is reportedly considering a new funding round that would value the company at over $1 Bn.
According to Bloomberg, which first reported the development, Acko could raise $200 Mn in the new funding round. According to the report, the startup is also considering a public listing this year.
If the funding round comes through, Acko would be the 12th Indian startup to enter the unicorn club this year. This after India saw six startups, namely Groww, Gupshup, Cred, ShareChat, PharmEasy, and Meesho, become unicorns in April.
Founded by Varun Dua and Ruchi Deepak in 2016, Mumbai-based Acko is an independent digital general insurance company, which creates products and delivers opportunities in areas such as personalised insurance products based on user consumption behaviours. This is done by offering bite-sized insurance products for drivers and others working in transportation and related sectors. The company recently expanded its catalogue and began offering similar policies in healthcare. As of last year, Acko claimed to have provided 650 Mn policies to 60 Mn unique customers to date.
Acko competes with several other startups in the insurance tech space, such as Coverfox, Toffee Insurance, Digit Insurance and Insure First. Earlier this year, Digit Insurance also announced its entry into the unicorn club. According to an Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) report, the Indian insurance market was expected to be worth $280 Bn in 2020.
While Acko primarily relies on a direct-to-customer (D2C) approach for selling its insurance policies, it also sells them through Amazon. Last year, Amazon’s digital payments venture Amazon Pay entered the insurance distribution business by partnering with Acko.
The development was in alignment with Amazon Pay’s plans to become a full-fledged financial services platform. Nevertheless, the company claims that its differentiated go-to-market approach for auto insurance has inherent advantages over traditional channels as it addresses insurance needs through data-based personalised pricing and instant claim verification and settlement.
Acko last raised funds in September 2020 for its Series D round worth $60 Mn led by Munich Re Ventures. To date, the company has raised closed to $215 Mn in six funding rounds from 17 investors.
