Coverfox lost nearly Rs 3 for every rupee earned in FY18

Mumbai-based Coverfox Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd, which runs an eponymous online insurance brokerage, saw its losses widen as its operating revenues more than doubled for the financial year ended March 2018, its filings with the Registrar of Companies show.

The company’s operating revenue, which primarily includes commission income, grew to Rs 11.45 crore for the financial year 2017-18, up from Rs 4.20 crore in the previous year. Its net losses for the period increased to Rs 33.74 crore from Rs 31.85 crore in the previous year, the filings stated.

Gross expenditures rose nearly 21.5% to Rs 46.14 crore, up from Rs 37.98 crore in the year prior. As in 2016-17, marketing and advertising expenses accounted for nearly half of the total expenses at Rs 21.53 crore, a negligible dip from Rs 22.01 crore in 2016-17.

Employee benefit expenses was the second major expenditure head, coming in at Rs 10.68 crore, up from Rs 6.20 crore in the previous year. Put together, these two heads accounted for nearly 70% of Coverfox’s total expenditure for the financial year 2017-18.

E-mail queries sent to Devendra Rane, co-founder of the venture, seeking comments on the company’s financial performance did not elicit a response at the time of filing this report.

Coverfox Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd operates the website and is a licensed insurance broking company certified by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. Glitterbug Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which runs the Coverfox brand, is the technology and marketing arm.

Coverfox’s financial performance is also included in Glitterbug’s consolidated financial statement.

The company was founded in 2013 by IIT Bombay graduate Rane and MICA Ahmedabad alumnus Varun Dua. Dua quit Coverfox in 2016 to float Acko General Insurance Company, an online insurance policy provider.

The company offers health insurance, car insurance, home insurance and travel insurance online. Using its proprietary technology and an algorithm-based platform, users can compare and buy a range of plans across top insurance companies.

Through Glitterbug, Coverfox has aggregated and created a network of third-party repair and servicing workshops for motor vehicles, information on its website states.

Glitterbug has raised a little over $37 million till date in external funding from venture capital firms Accel, SAIF Partners, Catamaran Ventures and the International Finance Corporation, the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, among others.

In September, VCCircle had reported that the company was in talks with Avaana Capital, a newly launched mid-market PE fund floated by former TPG executive Anjali Bansal, to raise potential investment.

In April this year, Coverfox completed its $22-million (Rs 144 crore) Series C funding round, which was led by the IFC. US-based corporate venture capital firm Transamerica and other existing investors also put in money in the round.