OneAssist secures $7.5M in Series B funding led by insurance major Assurant

OneAssist Consumer Solutions Pvt Ltd, which provides protection for credit card, smartphones and payment cards in case of loss or theft, has raised $7.5 million in Series B financing led by New York-based Assurant Inc.

This marks NYSE-listed Assurant's first investment in an Indian company.

A Fortune 500 company, Assurant is a global provider of specialty protection products and services especially in the property, casualty, life and health insurance sectors.

OneAssist's existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in this round of funding, OneAssist said in a press statement.

OneAssist will use the money raised to expand and deepen its distribution network particularly in the online and digital domains. It will also allocate investments for building category awareness and to improve its technology offerings, the statement said.

Founded in 2011, by Gagan Maini and Subrat Pani, OneAssist currently offers solutions to individual customers in the event of the loss of critical 'everyday' products such as wallets, payment cards and smartphones. The company's offerings target over 300 million debit and credit card holders in the country as well as the growing base of over 150 million smartphone users.

"Our aim is to be a market defining leader in assistance and protection in India by bringing innovative solutions using technology and offering stand-out customer experience. We will use the funds to build awareness for our products and expand our distribution across the spectrum," said Pani.

OneAssist has partnerships with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank for 'WalletAssist, which provides cover against credit and debit card fraud.

Its other product 'Mobile Assist' helps customer to block their SIM and secure their data through an app in the event of a smartphone loss or theft. It also provides theft and damage insurance protection, including doorstep services to pick-up and repair the phone.

OneAssist has partnered with top mobile retailers and original equipment makers to make its products available to customers. The company claims that it has a subscriber base of over 200,000 customers and is growing by 3x year-on-year.

Mohit Bhatnagar, managing director, Sequoia Capital said: "We backed the founders when OneAssist was just a concept in their minds. Funding by a firm like Assurant validates the vision of our founders and the strength of the company's technology and processes which helps them assist hundreds of thousands of Indians when they need it most.

In June 2012, OneAssist had raised $3.5 million from Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed Venture Partners.