RenewBuy Picks Up $40 Mn From Japan’s Dai-Ichi Life

Insurance major RenewBuy has picked up $40 Mn in its Series D round of funding from Japanese insurance major, Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. The funding is part of its ongoing Series D round, and the company said in a statement that more investments are expected to close soon.

The funding round comes more than two years after the insurtech startup closed a $55 Mn Series C round led by Apis Partners in August 2021. Further, the startup secured a debt of INR 68 Cr in November 2022 from Stride Ventures and InnoVen. 

In all, RenewBuy has raised more than $92.7 Mn in funding across eight rounds, excluding the present funding round.

Founded in 2015 by Balachander Sekhar and Indraneel Chatterjee, RenewBuy offers comparisons between different insurance policies to customers via its network of 40 insurance providers. The startup claims to have more than 100K insurance advisors, having insured more than 5 Mn customers across 800 cities and towns in India.

RenewBuy also claims to have a distribution franchisee network across 1500 cities. The startup said that 70% of its business comes from Tier III and beyond markets.

Speaking on the fundraise, Sekhar, cofounder and CEO of RenewBuy said, “RenewBuy, in seven years, has digitally empowered advisors to offer insurance seamlessly, and 70% of our business comes from beyond the 30th city. Using technology, RenewBuy has brought massive efficiency in the sales process; we want to leverage this to deliver better pricing to consumers.”

Sekhar added that the partnership with Dai-ichi would allow RenewBuy to access more growth opportunities in the wider Asian market.

Hitoshi Yamaguchi, a representative director and the managing executive officer of Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. added, “Our investment in RenewBuy shows our desire to constantly improve ourselves and seek new ways to create value for our customers. RenewBuy is a great example of a disruptor that leveraged social trends and technology effectively to reach a market which was once thought to be unreachable.”

Yamaguchi added that the partnership with the insurtech major would allow the group to boost the ‘sophistication’ of its life insurance business in India.

RenewBuy acquired AI-enabled insurtech startup Artivatic.AI last year, to settle insurance claims faster. With the integration, it has upgraded and increased its current policy delivery and servicing capabilities, the startup said.

RenewBuy competes with the likes of Policybazaar and InsuranceDekho.

Insurance remains a lucrative segment for fintech startups in India, given the low penetration and increasing demand for the product. According to Inc42’s ‘State of Indian Fintech, Q3 2022’ report, India’s insurtech segment is growing at a CAGR of 17% and is set to become a $307 Mn market opportunity by 2030.