PolicyBazaar has raised close to $150 million in funding from Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent Holdings Pvt. Ltd. Chinese investment giant Tencent has bought a 10% stake in one of India’s largest online insurance selling platform Policybazaar.
Sources aware of the deal confirmed the news saying that post the transaction, the financial services company is valued at a little more than $1.5 billion.
The startup will be using the investment to venture into newer segments in financial services. These will be a mix of B2B and B2C businesses.
“PolicyBazaar is looking to launch newer ventures in the coming months, which will cover a host of financial services and is aiming to look strongly at growth of these businesses and existing verticals. That’s the reason for getting the investment in,” told a source.
It started a new brand under its parent called Zphin two months back to provide technology solutions to financial service businesses.
On the other hand, Tiger Global, which was an early investor in PolicyBazaar has sold close to 10 percent of its stake (to Tencent), sources commented. “Tiger Global didn’t want to dissolve its entire stake in the company and still holds small percentage in PolicyBazaar,” added a source.
With this funding, Policybazaar will continue to grow in the insurtech sector while its subsidiary company Paisabazaar too continues to do well, said the source. According to reports, the Indian insurance industry is set to grow to $280 million by 2019-20.
In June 2018, Policybazaar raised a mega $238 million round led by SoftBank Vision Fund and existing investor Info Edge, which pushed the financial services major into the Indian unicorn club. The funds were raised for its healthcare and telemedicine venture, Docprime, which was launched in August 2018. Then, one month later, it received an internal funding of $50 million from parent company, EtechAces Marketing and Consulting Private Limited.
You may also like,
Funding Alert: Pet-care platform Wiggles secures angel funding of $1M
Funding Alert: Hostel and PG booking platform PGO raises $2 M
Funding Alert: Edtech startup Adda247 raises $6M in Series B round
More from Featured
Funding Alert: Online travel platform HappyEasyGo raises Rs 350 crore in Series B round
HappyEasyGo, an online travel portal, said it has raised Rs 350 crore from its investment partner in its Series-B financing. …
Funding Alert: Flipkart and Walmart jointly invest in Ninjacart
Walmart and Flipkart have announced a joint strategic investment in Ninjacart, the supply chain startup working in India’s fresh produce industry …
Amazon launches Audible Suno free app featuring short-stories in India
Technology giant Amazon’s audiobook company Audible has launched a new app in India called Audible Suno featuring original audio series, in a bid to expand …