5 insurtech startups changing the insurance market dynamics

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, India has the second-largest insurtech market in the Asia-Pacific region after China. In fact, Mordor Intelligence predicts, by 2024, the online insurance market in India is expected to reach a value of about Rs 220 billion. 

The increasing popularity of digital channels has made users prefer self-service portals for quick access and immediate results to their ever-changing financial and insurance needs. Additionally, users are now more aware of the possible threats than ever before. 

YourStory has curated a list of insurtech startups changing the dynamics of the Indian insurance sector by providing hassle-free solutions.

Coverfox

Founded in 2013, Mumbai-based Coverfox Insurance, offers online insurance broking services for health, travel, investment, home insurance, cars, and motorcycles.

While Sanjib Jha, CEO of Coverfox alongwith the senior management have a constant focus on embarking upon new avenues in the insurtech infrastructure space, Coverfox's current mission is to assist offline agents to go digital, boost their business, get instant and seamless quotes from insurers, increase operational efficiencies, reduce paperwork and earn faster.

In late 2017, the Mumbai-based startup turned its attention towards insurance agents — about 2.6 million are registered under IRDA — and rolled out coverdrive , a B2B seller platform.

In a 2019 interview with YourStory, the startup said, in a little more than a year, Coverdrive claims to have distributed close to a million policies and clocked 300 percent growth in earned premium. 

Over 50,000 insurance agents, most of whom had never sold a policy before, are using the platform. The Coverdrive app has recorded 80,000+ downloads. 

Toffee Insurance

Gurugram-based Toffee Insurance gives contextual and relevant insurance offerings to a growing youth demographic. Founded in 2017 by Nishant Jain and Rohan Kumar, it makes insurance reachable and affordable by creating multiple innovative single-event products in new categories. 

The startup claims it takes less than 90 seconds to buy insurance on the platform, and simple claims are processed in under two hours via a digital interface.

“The underserved and disempowered segment of the Indian population can easily slide below poverty with minor health or income setback. Our focus is to carve strong distribution partnerships contextual to the lifestyle products and risks of this target segment and provide ample financial scaffolding,” said Rohan in a previous conversation.

In December 2019, the startup had raised $ 5.5 million from IVM Intersurer and others to expand and leverage three areas — data and product, merchant and customer experience, and lateral distribution.

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Turtlemint

Founded in 2015 by Anand Prabhudesai, Kunal Shah, and Dhirendra Mahyavanshi, Mumbai-based Turtlemint follows an online-offline insurance model, which gives recommendations to customers based on proprietary algorithms and data analytics. 

It also offers a network of offline organisers to assist with completing the insurance purchase and giving claims help.

“We saw very limited effort towards helping insurance agents digitise their work, where they could have all the necessary tools at their disposal,” said Dhirendra. 

In March 2021, the startup has raised a $46 million Series D round from Jungle Ventures to supercharge insurance distribution and innovation in India.

Riskcovry

Founded in 2018 by Suvendu Prusty, Sorabh Bhandari, Chiranth Patil, and Vidya S., Mumbai-based insurtech startup Riskcovry allows companies from any industry to offer digital products and services to end customers through its ‘insurance in a box’ value proposition.

The startup claims it gives all the essential building blocks to its partners to offer insurance to its users’ services, underwritten by noted insurers’ technology to manage customer touchpoints, and digital methods for policy issuance, management, and claims — all under one roof.

“Insurance is a very push kind of product, and we pivoted to an idea where we become a one-stop technology shop for the distribution of these products,” said Chiranth, in a conversation with YourStory.

In March 2021, the startup raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Omidyar Network India to invest in all major functions, including product, partnerships, growth, tech, and data sciences.

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RenewBuy

Founded by Balachander Sekhar and Indraneel Chatterjee in 2015, Gurugram-based digital insurance aggregator RenewBuy works as a digital agent model, which provides transparency and instant insurance at lower costs, and offers motor health insurance, along with personal accident cover.

“Insurance penetration in India continues to be low at about 3.76 percent. The 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 over 650 cities,” Balachander said in an earlier conversation with YourStory.

He added, “We are taking insurance to the remotest part of the country, who have been traditionally under-served.” 

The startup uses AI across the consumer’s insurance lifecycle — from purchasing insurance to servicing to claiming settlements. 

In August 2021, the startup has raised an additional $10 million to close a $55 million Series C round from Evolvence Capital (Evolvence India Fund).