20 March 2024
• News
18 June 2021
Leading InsurTech RenewBuy raises US$ 45 million, led by Apis Partners, in Series C funding round
New Delhi, June 18, 2021: RenewBuy, one of India’s leading InsurTech companies, has raised US$ 45 million, in a series C funding round. This funding round has been led by an investment from Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners LLP, a UK-based asset manager that supports growth stage financial services and financial technology businesses. RenewBuy’s existing investors, Lok Capital and IIFL Wealth also participated in the fundraise.
As a result of Covid-19, there has been a significant increase in demand for insurance products. Through this period, RenewBuy has accelerated its growth significantly and its digital platform has gained market share rapidly. This round of funding will help support this accelerated growth.
RenewBuy group, through its Subsidiary D2C Insurance Broking Private Limited enables retail customers to buy motor, health and life insurance products with a unique end-to-end digital experience. Users are able to select from a choice of insurers, compare prices and features and receive advice from trained, certified Point-of-sale person (“POSP”) providers who educate and support retail customers during every step of their journey. The entire experience is natively digital and therefore paperless and contactless, with a policy issued instantly.
RenewBuy’s capital efficient business model serves as a competitive advantage that has been accelerated by technology, and has enabled it to emerge as one of the leading InsurTech players in the country. Since its inception in 2015, it has become the fastest growing online insurance player in India with INR 1,000 Crores (c.US$ 140M) in annualised premium. The company has doubled its monthly run rate and has been operationally profitable over the last four quarters.
More than 60% of RenewBuy’s business is from semi-urban and rural areas in India, with a focus on addressing an under-insured population. This aligns with Apis Partners’ core impact driven mandate to measure the sustainability and societal effect of an investment in a company or business.
Speaking on the fund raise, Balachander Sekhar, CEO, RenewBuy group said, “Insurance penetration in India continues to be low at about 3.76%. Demand for Insurance is strong in India, supply has always been a gap. At RenewBuy, we have solved this by creating a cutting-edge technology solution that more than 50,000 POSP advisors use – in 650 plus cities. We are taking insurance to the remotest part of the country to those who have been traditionally under-served. Whilst consumers can buy directly, experience has shown that they always prefer to deal with trained advisors who can explain the product and its terms and conditions and provide assistance on future claims.”
“In the 5 years since our launch, we have managed to provide Health, Life and Motor insurance provided by more than 35 insurance companies to a customer base of 2.5 million people. We believe the next 5 years will be a phase of exponential growth for the company, reaching 25 million customers through over 200,000 POSP advisors in India and beyond. I believe that Apis Partners, with its significant global expertise in InsurTech, is the right partner to help realise this target.” added Balachander Sekhar.
Udayan Goyal, Managing Partner and Apis Partners Co-Founder said, “As experienced InsurTech investors, we are thrilled to become significant investors in RenewBuy. With less than 10% of India’s 1.4 billion population currently insured, this sector represents a huge growth opportunity given the demographics and current penetration levels. We have been impressed with the experience and domain expertise of the founders, senior management and broader team that we have met during the investment process and are excited to work with them as they execute their vision of further transforming the Indian Insurtech landscape.”
Matteo Stefanel, Managing Partner and Apis Partners Co-Founder said, “We are delighted to announce our partnership with RenewBuy, who have already proven to be leaders in the digitally assisted insurance market. Given that the Indian Insurance industry has grown at a healthy pace of 17% CAGR over the last decade and is expected to have a long-term secular growth, we believe that RenewBuy is uniquely positioned to capitalise on this growth and increase its already impressive nationwide footprint. We look forward to supporting them on their journey.”
About RenewBuy
Founded in 2015 by Balachander Sekhar and Indraneel Chatterjee, RenewBuy is a disruptive InsurTech player providing choice and convenience to customers buying Health, Life and Motor Insurance products, delivered through a trusted network of POSP advisors. The company now has about 50,000 POS partners and has insured more than 2.5 million customers across 650 cities and towns. Using technology as an enabler, the company has created differentiation in consumer experience and service, as well as in the geographical expansion of the sector.
About Apis Partners
The Apis Group (“Apis”) is an ESGI-native global private equity asset manager that supports growth stage financial services and financial infrastructure businesses by providing them with catalytic growth equity capital. Collectively Apis, through its team of c. 30 professionals with deep industry expertise, manages or advises on total committed capital from investors (including drawn and invested capital) of $1.4B.
Including its headquarters in London, Apis has representation in seven countries across Europe, North, East and West Africa and South and Southeast Asia. Apis is highly conscious of the developmental impact that the provision of growth capital for financial services and financial infrastructure businesses in growth markets can achieve, and as such, financial inclusion is a core tenet of Apis’ approach and investment mandate.
