Tech-enabled insurance provider GramCover raises fresh capital

Gramcover Insurance Brokers, a technology-based insurance provider for customers in rural areas, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a bridge round, dubbed a pre-Series A round.

Returning investor Omnivore, and new investors EMVC, Flourish and Omidyar Network India, infused capital into the company, according to a statement on Tuesday.

The GramCover platform runs a point-of-sale (POS) network across the Indian countryside, which it uses to deliver insurance products for crop, livestock, health, motor, life and asset insurance.

“GramCover is at the forefront of digital disruption for last-mile insurance and financial services delivery, scaling insurtech innovation tailored uniquely for India’s largest and least-digitally-served population,” Melissa Frakman, managing partner at Washington DC-based venture capital firm EMVC, said.

The Noida headquartered company, which has catered to over 1.3 million farmers in the country so far, expects to add five million rural consumers to its network over the next two years, as per the statement. It claims to have brokered $10 million worth of insurance premiums in the financial year ended March 31, 2020.

“With GramCover already having achieved breakeven on the bottom line, we are well poised to make further investments to grow our reach and develop new lines of business,” founder Jatin Singh said.

Registered as a composite broker at the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the startup was founded in 2016. The same year, it also raised its first known funding from Omnivore. Research platform VCCEged pegged the deal size at $1.2 million.

The insurtech company is Singh’s second entrepreneurial venture, the first being a private weather company called Skymet.

“Jatin has a keen understanding of the Indian rural consumer… GramCover, with its technology-led approach, is taking insurance to India’s most hard-to-reach population segments, helping them cope with unexpected risks, and thereby create a meaningful life for themselves,” Amol Warange, director of investments for impact investor Omidyar Network India, said.