SoftBank pumps $68 mn into PolicyBazaar in first tranche of Series F round

Insurance marketplace PolicyBazaar, owned by Gurugram based ETechAces Marketing & Consulting Pvt Ltd, has raised Rs 1,059.4 crore (about $152 million at current foreign exchange rates) in the first tranche of a Series F funding round announced last year. The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund, according to filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The latest infusion takes the total capital raised by the company so far to nearly $300 million.

In June last year, the company said in a statement that it had received commitments worth more than $200 million for a Series F round led by SoftBank, with participation from existing investors including Info Edge. At the time, it had not specified which of its other existing investors -- private equity firm True North, hedge fund Tiger Global Management and, Singapore state investment entity Temasek Holdings -- would also be part of the round.

According to the company’s latest filings, SoftBank Vision Fund, through its wholly owned subsidiary SVF India Holdings (Cayman), has invested Rs 473.27 crore ($67.95 million), Info Edge has injected Rs 413.59 crore ($59.38) million and True North, an existing investor, has pumped in Rs 172.27 crore ($24.74 million).

Multiple media reports had said in June last year that the round would catapult PolicyBazaar into the unicorn club, a common term for startups privately valued at $1 billion or more.

Founded in 2008 by Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal, PolicyBazaar has raised capital across five rounds, including the Series F round. Its early backers included Intel Capital, Inventus Capital, Steadview Capital, ABG Capital and Ribbit Capital.

The platform offers various financial products, including insurance policies and loans, and helps consumers select schemes based on an analysis of products, price, quality and key benefits. In 2014, it set up PaisaBazaar, which is its online loan and credit cards marketplace. It also had plans to launch overseas operations, with West Asia, and more specifically Dubai, likely to be its first port of call.

In January this year, the company strengthened its top management by appointing heads of technology and product functions. The company appointed Rahul Aggarwal, former technology officer at Lava Mobile as chief technology officer and Jayant Chauhan as chief product officer.

According to an Info Edge filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange in June last year, PolicyBazaar clocked Rs 358.27 crore in revenues for the financial year ended March 2018. The company had reported revenues at  Rs 212.87 crore in the previous year. According to VCCEdge, PolicyBazaar had swung to a net profit of Rs 75.8 crore in 2016-17 from a loss of Rs 79.5 crore in the previous year.

Recent deals in the fintech sector

• April 2019: Online loans platform InCred raised a Rs 86 mn Series A round led by FMO.
• March 2019: Mumbai-based Acko General Insurance Co. Ltd raised $65 million (Rs 452.3 crore) in a Series C round from Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, RPS Ventures, former SoftBank managing partner Kabir Misra’s investment firm, and Intact Ventures, the strategic venture investments arm of Intact Financial Corporation.
• January 2019: Online insurance platform Turtlemint raised $25 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India.