InsuranceDekho appoints Avendus to help raise around $150 mn

“This could become one of their largest rounds... the company is seeing a lot of demand and may get their first term-sheet in the next 30-45 days," said one of the people cited above. 

The company has started receiving initial commitments and may see a much higher valuation than the previous round, the second person said. 

While a large part of the funding will be primary, a small portion will come from secondary transactions, this person added. 

Avendus declined to comment, and InsuranceDekho did not immediately respond to Mint's request for comment. 

This development comes less than a year after InsuranceDekho raised $60 million in its Series B round in October at a valuation of $630 million. The round was led by Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), BNP Paribas Cardif through its insurtech fund managed by European investment major Eurazeo, Beams Fintech Fund and Yogesh Mahansaria Family Office.

At the time, the company outlined plans to beef up tech capabilities, enhance marketing efforts finance new initiatives like reinsurance, and pursue inorganic growth plans through the fund-raise.

Prior to this, InsuranceDekho raised $150 million in its Series A round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and TVS Capital Funds in February last year. Its other existing investors include Investcorp, Avataar Ventures and LeapFrog Investments.

Large ticket transactions

The funding ecosystem has seen an uptick in large ticket transactions in recent months. For instance, online beauty Purplle may see a $100 million infusion from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in a mix of primary and secondary transactions, Mint first reported in April. 

Earlier this month, Mint also reported that Singapore's state-owned investment firm Temasek and Fidelity Management & Research Company purchased Lenskart shares worth $200 million in a secondary transaction.

Quick commerce startup Zepto also raised $665 million at a valuation of $3.6 billion valuation from a set of new and exisiting investors, it said on Friday.

Founded in 2017 by Ankit Agrawal and Ish Babbar, InsuranceDekho earns about 82% of its premium from Tier-II cities and beyond.

With more than 6 million customers, the company has direct integration with 46 insurance companies in India, offering over 380 insurance products, including 175 products for health and life and claims to be present in about 1500 towns. It competes with the likes of Acko, Turtlemint and PolicyBazaar.

InsuranceDekho is a subsidiary of automobile portal CarDekho, which pivoted from selling used vehicles to vehicle financing. Jaipur-based CarDekho, which turned unicorn in 2021, competes with CarTrade, Spinny, and Cars24. In December 2023, it acquired shared mobility startup Revv.

In FY23, InsuranceDekho doubled its revenues to ₹100.3 crore from a year earlier and reduced its losses to ₹51.6 crores from ₹72.3 crores the previous year, according to Tracxn data. 

CEO Ankit Agrawal had in October announced that the company turned a profit for the quarter ending June 2023 and is expected to achieve full-year profitability for FY24. The company is yet to file its audited results for the year.