Amazon Leads $12M Funding in Mumbai's Online Insurance Startup Acko

Mumbai-based online-only insurance startup, Acko General Insurance has raised an investment of $12 million led by Amazon. Veteran investor and founder of private equity fund ChrysCapital, Ashish Dhawan also made an investment in this round, which also saw participation by existing investor, Mr. Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures. The latest infusion takes Acko’s total equity funding to nearly $42 million.

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

A number of Acko’s investors have also backed Mumbai-based online insurance brokerage platform Coverfox, which recently closed its Series C round of funding at $22 million (about Rs 145 crore), led by International Finance Corp (IFC) and Transamerica.

The latest funding round pegs Acko’s valuation at about $100 million.

Setup 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.

“We are thrilled to have Amazon and Mr. 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,” said Varun Dua, Founder, Acko.

“Acko is a young and nimble start-up 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.

Earlier this year, Amazon had invested Rs 144 crore in online lending company Capital Float, and also picked up a minority stake in financial services marketplace BankBazaar in 2015.