Munich Re Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Munich Reinsurance, is in the final stages of leading a $60-70 million financing round in Acko Technology, people in the know said. The funding is expected to value Acko at around $400-$500 million, these people said on the condition of anonymity.
Other existing investors, such as e-commerce major Amazon, former SoftBank executive Kabir Misra’s RPS Ventures and Intact Ventures, will likely participate in the ongoing fundraising for the new-age insurance startup, the sources added.
Germany-headquartered Munich Re, which is among the world’s largest reinsurers, has backed companies across insure-tech, digital health, deep tech sectors.
In the digital insurance space, it has ploughed capital in US firms like Next Insurance, which is valued at over $1 billion, Inshur, Hippo Insurance, among others.
The investment round will close in about a month’s time, said another person privy to the deal details who did not want to be named as talks are private. Emailed queries to a spokesperson at Munich Re Ventures and Acko’s founder and CEO Varun Dua did not elicit responses till press-time Monday.
Acko Technology, which runs Acko General Insurance, is modelled on the likes of Geico and Progressive in the US and China’s Alibaba and Tencent-backed Zhong An, and operates in three verticals — car, bike and health insurance — which it sells directly to consumers.
Internet-based products contribute about 40% to its revenue, while auto and bikes make up for around 60%. Health insurance, which was launched two month ago, is still at a nascent stage as far as contribution to the company’s revenue goes.
ET reported earlier that Acko was targeting to hit $100 million in annualised run rate by March.
The Bengaluru-based Acko has till date raised $130 million and counts Accel, SAIF Partners, Ascent Capital, Flipkart’s cofounder Binny Bansal as investors. In fact, Bansal is a major shareholder in the company, having invested around $40-$45 million.
Other players in the digital insurance sector include Prem Watsa-backed Digit Insurance as well as new entrant Sachin Bansal’s Navi Technologies, which bought out DHFL General Insurance from Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC). Flipkart cofounder Bansal has now housed the brand Coco by DHFL General Insurance under Navi General Insurance, which now offers online policies for motor, travel and home.
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