Online Insurance startup Acko raises $12 M led by Amazon

Acko on Monday announced a new round of investment of $12 million led by Amazon. Ashish Dhawan, investor and founder of private equity fund ChrysCapital, made an investment in this round, which also saw participation by existing investor, Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures.

The latest infusion takes Acko’s total equity funding to nearly $42mn.

Acko also boasts of other investors including Accel Partners, SAIF Partners, Swiss Re Reinsurance Holding Company Ltd. and Transamerica Ventures Fund, Venk Krishnan and Subba Rao of NuVentures, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder Infosys, Hemendra Kothari of DSP Blackrock, Atul Nishar – Founder and Chairman of Hexaware Technologies, Rajeev Gupta, investment banker and Founder of Arpwood Capital.

 Set up by Varun Dua in 2016, Acko’s general insurance company leverages on data and analytics to provide highly personalised insurance products through its digital platform.

Varun said, “We are thrilled to have Amazon and Ashish Dhawan as our investors. This investment is a validation of Acko’s strategy to innovate ever more for tomorrow's financial needs of users.”

"Acko is a young and nimble startup bringing technology and data-led innovation to the insurance sector to deliver a better insurance experience for customers. We are excited to back companies that are focused on using technology for enhanced customer experience and are led by missionary founders and management teams. We look forward to be a part of their growth journey,” said Amit Agarwal, SVP and Country Manager, Amazon India, in a statement.

Commenting on his investment, Ashish Dhawan said, "We strongly believe in Varun and his team's vision for a new age of insurance in India and are excited to be part of the Acko family. The insurance industry is ripe for innovation as data and technology embed themselves in the ecosystem. Acko has a unique opportunity to not only make traditional insurance products more accessible to Indians but also create new categories and significantly improve the customer experience." 

Recently, Acko General Insurance was ranked No. 2 in Insurance POST’s Top 100 Global Insurtech firms 2018, after Zhong An of China and ahead of US-based Oscar, both of which are unicorns. The POST Insurtech 100 is a global listing that celebrates insurtech firms with the most potential to influence, change or entirely disrupt the global insurance market.