Catamaran backs online insurance broker Coverfox

Mumbai-based Coverfox Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd, which runs a portal for comparing and buying insurance online, has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Catamaran Ventures, the private investment arm of Infosys' co-founder NR Narayana Murthy.

Coverfox.com had earlier raised $2 million from Accel India and SAIF Partners in its Series A round last November. It followed it up by raising $12 million from existing investors as also Accel Partners' US fund.

The firm did not say if this is a fresh investment round or Catamaran has joined as new investor as an extended Series B round.

The startup was founded by Varun Dua (CEO) and Devendra Rane (CTO) in May 2013. Dua is a graduate of MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad) and Rane is a IIT Mumbai graduate.

Coverfox offers car, bike, health, travel and home insurance products and claims to be clocking 40-50 per cent growth month on month. The portal works by helping users compare and choose from a range of insurance plans across insurance companies, and also helps them through the claims process.

In the online insurance comparison sector, Coverfox faces stiff competition from PolicyBazaar, which raised $40 million led by PremjiInvest, the private investment arm of Wipro promoter Azim Premji, in April this year and Andromeda, which acquired ApnaPaisa in July, among others.

"Catamaran chose to partner with Coverfox because we were attracted to the company's customer-oriented approach to insurance distribution built on top of a robust technology platform. The insurance sector will experience significant growth in India and we believe that the company has the opportunity to lead a meaningful change in how customers view, buy and manage their insurance," said Abishek Laxminarayan, investment director, Catamaran Ventures.

For Catamaran Ventures, this is the third known investment this year after it backed Innoviti Payment Solutions and Hector Beverages Pvt Ltd, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle.