Insurtech Startup Finsall Raises Funding From Unicorn India Ventures, SEA Fund

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Finsall has raised INR 12 Cr in a Pre-Series A funding round. The round was led by the startup’s existing investors Unicorn India Ventures (UIV) and SEA Fund, and a clutch of other investors.

The startup will deploy the funding for scaling the platform and to secure new insurance partnerships. The startup also aims to use the investment to increase market share in the insurance premium financing segment and to build lending partnerships with banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).

The insurance startup was founded in 2018 by Promod Khanna, Tim Mathews and Prabal Khanna. 

Finsall provides end-to-end technology processes for insurance premium financing. The startup also connects customers, insurance companies, banks and NBFCs through its proprietary software, providing accessible insurance for different segments.

The startup, which is being incubated by NASSCOM and Kerala Startup Mission, has so far raised INR 14.4 Cr. This is the second round of investment by the UIV, which invested INR 2.4 Cr last January.

Unicorn India Ventures Managing Partner Anil Joshi, said, ”Since our first investment in the company, it has grown 70% month-on-month and added capabilities in its platform. We are seeing strong business traction and a pipeline of customers, which is why we have decided to invest in them further.”

Finsall claims that it grew by 5,000 times in the last 12 months. The insurtech startup caters to retail customers in the motor and health insurance sectors and has now expanded to serve the MSME sector.

This comes just days after Tech Mahindra picked up a 25% stake each in SaaS-based digital customer engagement platform, SWFT and personal cyber insurance startup, Surance for a cumulative total of €20 Mn. 

Adding to this, Tiger Global-backed digital insurance service provider, Zopper Insurtech, too is all prepped for its much-touted $50 Mn fundraise. Insurance broker, SecureNow, too raised $6 Mn from Apis Insurtech Fund late last year. 2021 also saw Fairfax-backed Digit Insurance raising $200 Mn valuing the startup at $3.5  Bn. With this, Digit Insurance became the second insurtech startup, after PolicyBazaar, to enter India’s unicorn club.

The Indian insurtech sector is dominated by big names like Digit Insurance, Acko General, PolicyBazaar, OneAssist, PolicyBoss among others. 

Despite pandemic affecting premium payments, the global Insurtech market was valued at $9.4 Bn in 2020 and is projected to reach $158 Bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 32.7% from 2021 to 2030. 

This positive sentiment was reflected in growing investments flowing into the country. A report released by S&P last year said that India was the second largest insurance technology market in the Asia Pacific. The country accounted for 35% of the $3.66 Bn of the VC funds coming into the sector in the region.

An IBEF report published last year highlighted that the market share of private insurance companies had risen from 47.97% in FY19 to 48.03% in FY20. Meanwhile, private players held a market share of 33.78% in the premium underwritten services in the life insurance segment during FY20.

The insurtech space has seen a massive boost in the past few years, backed by the digitisation push amid the pandemic and demonetisation. Continuing on that moment could yield wonderful results for the economy and as such should be encouraged. The investment is a testament to the resilience of the sector.