Insurtech Startup SecureNow Raises $6 Mn To Scale-Up Its Operations

Delhi-NCR based insurtech startup SecureNow has raised $6 Mn from Apis Insurtech Fund I and Charan Singh, founder of SelectQuote Inc.

With the latest fund raise, the startup aims to scale up business operations. A SecureNow statement said that it has reinforced its focus on commercial insurance issuance by building an end-to-end insurtech platform currently serving 25,000 small businesses across 150 locations. 

The startup aims to grow its customer base to more than 1 Mn businesses within the next three years, the same timeframe within which it is also on track to reach profitability, it said. 

SecureNow’s platform covers a full range of commercial insurances including group health insurance, property, marine and liability covers and is the single-window for all insurance matters for its clients, including claims.

The startup said that during the pandemic, traffic to SecureNow’s platform rose significantly as the traditional channels of distribution that required face-to-face selling were under stress. 

Founded in 2011 by Abhishek Bondia and Kapil Mehta, the SecureNow Group (SecureNow) consists of SecureNow TechServices, and SecureNow Insurance Broker, an insurance broker focused on selling commercial insurances to SMEs and mid-market clients. Prior to this fund, the startup had raised $3 Mn. 

Growing Insurtech Space Amid Pandemic

The insurtech space has witnessed a rapid growth in recent time, more so on the back of the pandemic-induced digitisation.

There has been a healthy fund flow into the segment. In October this year, Bengaluru-based employee benefits and insurtech startup Pazcare raised $3.5 Mn as part of its seed round led by BEENEXT.

In September 2021, Inc42 had exclusively reported that another insurtech startup Nova Benefits would be raising INR 71 Cr in its fresh round of funding.

In November 2021, insuretech unicorn Policybazaar got public as it listed on the exchanges with a 17% premium.

As per an IBEF report, the Indian insurance industry was expected to reach $280 Bn by the end of 2020. The industry is expected to increase by 7– 9% in terms of gross direct premium income by FY22.

The report highlighted that the life insurance industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% between 2019 and 2023. The startup’s insurance penetration stood at 3.76% in FY20, with life insurance penetration at 2.82% and non-life insurance penetration at 0.94%. In terms of insurance density, India’s overall parameter stood at US$ 78 in FY20.

The market share of private insurance companies rose from 47.97% in FY19 to 48.03% in FY20. In the life insurance segment, private players held a market share of 33.78% in premium underwritten services in FY20.