Policybazaar board approves Rs 6,500 cr fundraise via IPO

Online insurance aggregator Policybazaar has received the approval from its board to raise Rs 6,500 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). 

The IPO will constitute a fresh issue of equity shares and an offer-for-sale by its investors, regulatory filings show. 

The company has increased the non-resident Indian (NRI) investment limit from 10% to 24% of the paid-up equity share capital.  

In a separate filing, the company has also expanded its borrowing power to Rs 1,000 crore. 

Last week, food delivery platform Zomato successfully completed a public issue of shares on the Indian bourses, attracting strong interest from both institutional and retail investors.

Payments platforms Paytm  and Mobikwik, both from the burgeoning fintech sector, filed their draft red herring prospectus last week for $2.2 billion and $255 million floats respectively.   

Policybazaar is among a host of homegrown consumer internet companies looking to go public this year.  

Walmart-owned Flipkart, logistics platform Delhivery, fashion and beauty platform Nykaa are the others in the fray. Also lining up for an IPO this year is SaaS unicorn Freshworks. 

Policybazaar had raised a $75 million round in March, led by New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital, to accelerate its UAE business.

Weeks before that, Bay Capital invested an undisclosed amount in the Gurugram-based company via a secondary deal.   

In October 2020, Falcon Edge Capital had acquired a stake in Policybazaar through a secondary transaction. Homegrown private equity firm True North also sold a partial stake at the time.  

Policybazaar became a unicorn in 2018 when it raised $200 million in a growth funding round -- Series F -- led by SoftBank.   

Last year, Inventus Capital too offloaded 1.67% stake in the company for $25 million, according to reports.  

In 2019, Tiger Global sold 10% stake in the company to Tencent at a valuation of $1.5 billion.  

The insurance aggregator has attracted a lot of interest from investors ahead of its IPO. Other key investors in the company include Premji Invest, Temasek, Info Edge and Ribbit Capital.  

The company had raised $47.4 million in the second tranche of Series F round from SoftBank last year.  

Media reports also mentioned a secondary component of $80 million, which could not be ascertained independently by TechCircle at the time.  

Founded in 2008 by Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal, PB Fintech, formerly called Etechaces Marketing and Consulting, operates a total of seven businesses. 

It runs online insurer Policybazaar, online marketplace of financial products Paisabazaar, as well as call centre operator Icall Support Services, online healthcare services provider Docprime Technologies, and motor vehicle claims and related assistance services provider Accurex Marketing and Consulting.