Amazon-backed Acko secures $60 mn growth round at nearly $500 mn valuation

Digital insurance startup Acko Technology & Services has raised $60 million (Rs 438 crore) in a growth funding round led by San Francisco-based Munich Re Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Munich Reinsurance.

Returning investors in this round include US retail giant Amazon, former SoftBank executive Kabir Misra's RPS Ventures and Intact Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Canada's largest provider of property and casualty insurance Intact Financial Corporation, the company said in a statement.

According to a person familiar with the deal, the post-money valuation of the four-year-old startup now approaches $500 million.

Acko said it will use the fresh funds to accelerate growth in existing lines and invest on expansion into new product lines.

“As Munich Re Ventures’ first investment in India, we look forward to the positive impact that digitally native insurance solutions will have on the country with Acko leading the way,” Oshri Kaplan, director, Munich Re Ventures, said.

Munich Re Ventures has made 30 investments in insurtech and new technology companies globally.

“Munich Re has been a strategic partner to Acko since inception and we are really excited to bring them on board as our investor. As one of the largest reinsurance companies globally, their investment shows confidence in our data and technology-driven business model. We are happy to have mission-aligned investors who are also helping us with global expertise in insurance and technology,” said Varun Dua, founder and CEO, Acko.

The current round takes Acko’s overall funding to $183 million, according to VCCEdge data. It last raised capital in November 2019 when Ascent Capital infused $16 million into the Mumbai-based startup.

Previously, the company raised $65 million in a Series C round of funding from Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, RPS Ventures, Intact Ventures and other existing backers.

Acko’s other investors include Accel, SAIF Partners, Swiss Re, Transamerica Ventures, Barings Private Equity, VenturEast, Narayan Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures, Infosys cofounder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Hexaware Technologies founder Atul Nishar, DSP Investment Managers' chairman Hemendra Kothari, Arpwood Capital’s Rajeev Gupta;  Aditya Agarwal of ICONIQ Capital, TI Platform, Subba Rao of NuVentures and Venk Krishnan. 

Founded by MICA Ahmedabad alumnus Dua in 2016, Acko provides general insurance products with personalised pricing based on customer behaviour and data analytics through its digital platform. It also offers instant claim verification and settlement facilities. The company claims to use a direct-to-consumer approach for distributing motor insurance, allowing for favourable risk selection and underwriting.

It recently partnered with Amazon Pay for distributing two and four-wheeler insurance. 

Acko also offers what it calls as microinsurance or bite-sized insurance products, which include rider insurance, mobile and appliance protection and ticket cancellation. The company has partnered with over 20 internet companies such as Amazon, Ola, redBus, Zomato and UrbanClap to offer these products to their workforce.

Acko’s employee health plan combines the benefits of insurance, primary care and wellness, which it claims to have covered over 150,000 employees within just six months of launch.

The company claims to have issued over 650 million policies to over 60 million unique customers to date.