Mount Nathan commits $1M investment in RenewBuy

RenewBuy, an online auto insurance platform, has raised its second angel round of funding worth $500,000 (Rs 3.3 crore) from existing investor Mount Nathan Advisors, a Singapore-based investment banking and advisory firm, through its investment entity Havelock Road LLP. Mount Nathan will be putting $500,000 more within three months in the firm, RenewBuy's co-founder and CEO Balachander Sekhar told VCCircle.

The portal, which is run by Delhi-based D2C Consulting Services Pvt Ltd, will use the funds to offer innovative insurance claim solutions and build its mobile application as well as for customer acquisition.

"Our focus on the auto insurance vertical has led to a rapid increase in business volumes in just eight months since launch," Sekhar said.

Manish Mahajan, managing partner, Havelock Road, said, "RenewBuy's differentiated business model will continue to outperform the marketing spend-led, high-cost models prevalent in the industry."

In November last year, RenewBuy had raised $500,000 from Mount Nathan.

Mount Nathan had earlier invested in Sanctum Wealth, which bought out the wealth management business of RBS in India.

RenewBuy, which has an insurance broking licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, claims to offer the lowest premia for insurance coverage for cars or bikes. It also offers claim assistance.

"We are selling 300 policies on average every month," said Sekhar, an IIT Bombay and IIM Calcutta alumnus.

Sekhar, who has previously worked with MetLife, Reliance Retail Insurance and American Express, had launched RenewBuy in July last year along with Indraneel Chatterjee and Sandeep Nanda. Chatterjee, an alumnus of Symbiosis International University, has over a decade of experience in the insurance sector and has earlier worked with PNB Metlife and Reliance Retail. An alumnus of Guru Nanak Dev University, Nanda has previously worked with Guavus, Aricent Group and Infosys.

The company, which has tie-ups with several insurers—including HDFC ERGO, IFFCO Tokio, Bajaj Allianz, Bharti AXA, Reliance General and L&T Insurance—charges 20 per cent commission on each policy.

According to Sekhar, the motor insurance market in India is worth nearly Rs 25,000 crore and is dominated by the traditional brick and mortar companies. "There are not many players in the online segment. Although BankBazaar and

PolicyBazaar have entered the fray, they only involve in lead generation," he said.