Raunak Mehta (in pic) was previously Igloo CMO
Singapore-headquartered insurtech startup Igloo (formerly Axinan) has closed a US$19 million Series B funding round, led by Cathay Innovation.
ACA and Openspace Ventures joined the round, bringing its total fundraising to over US$36 million.
Igloo will use the new money to drive product innovation and innovate its dynamic risk assessment and AI-powered claims assessment tools. In line with its ‘Insurance for All’ vision, its product development and distribution focus will further target the underinsured low to mid-income population segments in Southeast Asia.
Besides, the insurtech firm will also acquire intermediary assets, which bring synergies to Igloo’s business model.
Alongside the funding, Igloo has also announced promoting its Chief Commercial Officer Raunak Mehta as Co-Founder and CEO. He will work alongside Co-Founder Wei Zhu, who is on Igloo’s Board of Directors.
Raunak brings tons of experience and has previously held leadership roles at Flipkart and Zalora. Since joining Igloo in 2018, he has spearheaded its market entry into the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia.
Mehta said: “With the continued backing of our investors, we are well-positioned to expand our operations in countries like Vietnam, The Philippines, and Malaysia, and provide a highly localised offering for each Southeast Asian market.”
Incorporated in 2016 by Wei Zhu (ex-CTO of Grab), Igloo leverages big data, real-time risk assessment, and end-to-end automated claims management to create B2B2C insurance solutions for platform and insurance companies.
To date, Igloo has partnered with over 50 well-known brands across the markets in various verticals, including insurance, telecommunications, e-commerce, hospitality, health tech and financial services.
Igloo claims to have facilitated over 200 million policies across Southeast Asia since 2019. In 2021, it nearly tripled its gross written premium facilitation, and its solutions helped underwrite over 75 million policies in Southeast Asia.
Recently, the company launched Ignite by Igloo, an app to streamline the insurance sales journey for agents and direct intermediaries. The AI-powered app offers an accessible online solution that brings together multiple insurance products on a single platform and supports agents to improve customer engagement and manage products to better address customer needs.
Besides Singapore, the firm has offices in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Its tech centres are located in China.
In 2020, Igloo raised an undisclosed Series A-plus funding round, led by InVent.
Southeast Asia has a burgeoning digital economy, which is expected to hit US$360 billion in 2025, according to Bain, Google and Temasek’s economy report. This growth has catalysed a need for digital insurance products such as cybersecurity and e-wallet insurance, which has opened up a US$10 billion opportunity for digital players and insurance companies in the region.
—
Ready to meet new startups to invest in? We have more than hundreds of startups ready to connect with potential investors on our platform. Create or claim your Investor profile today and turn on e27 Connect to receive requests and fundraising information from them.
The post Igloo closes US$19M Series B, promotes Raunak Mehta as Co-Founder and CEO appeared first on e27.