Acko Multiples to Raise Up to $150M from PE, GA, Others

After lengthy discussions on valuation, existing investors Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), General Atlantic (GA) and Multiples Private Equity agreed to bring in more capital in the potential Series E round, said the people cited above who asked not to be named.

“While General Atlantic sought to invest at flat valuations, other existing investors pressed to negotiate higher. The new round received a slight premium to its previous round ($1.1 billion) after several negotiations among its existing investors. This is likely to delay the fundraising. It is now awaiting regulatory approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and is set to close the round in the next 35-40 days,” said one of the two people. Told.

While the latest round is significantly higher than the previous one, it may not be at an expected valuation of more than $2 billion as reported by some publications.

A report in Entrackr said that Prosus (formerly Naspers) was in talks to lead the funding round in the Bengaluru-based insurtech startup, but this could not be independently confirmed. Emails sent to General Atlantic and multiple PEs remained unanswered till press time. While CPP Investments declined to comment, Prosus said, “We do not comment on market rumors or speculation.”

When contacted, Varun Dua, founder and CEO of Acko General Insurance, did not identify the investors’ names, funding amount or valuation, but confirmed the fundraising, for which regulatory approval has been delayed.

In October 2021, Acko 34th startup in India to become a unicorn (a private firm with a valuation of $1 billion and above) after raising $255 million in Series D round led by General Atlantic and Multiples PE at a valuation of $1.1 billion became. CPPIB and Lightspeed Growth also participated in the round, along with existing investors Intact Ventures and Munich Re Ventures.

Acko’s early investors include Amazon India, Accel, Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners), Ascent Capital, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures and Infosys co-founder Krish Gopalakrishnan. Huh.

Established in 2016 by Dua and Ruchi Deepak, Acko General Insurance operates as a subsidiary of Acko Technology & Services Pvt. Ltd. The company owns and operates digital insurance portal Acko.com to offer services like car insurance, motor insurance comparison, third-party and comprehensive insurance, premium calculator and claims for cars and two-wheelers. It also offers insurance products for health and electronics.

The online insurer sells its products digitally directly to consumers without involving insurance agents that are used by traditional insurance firms.

Acko General Insurance more than doubled revenue 1,087.5 cr in FY22 475.3 crore in the last financial year, much of it driven by sales of health insurance products. However, the loss of the insurtech startup increased so much 382 cr in FY22 132.5 crore from a year ago.

In 2022, total equity funding by insurtech startups is set to fall 39% to about $534.2 million from $880.8 million in 2021, data from researcher Traxon showed. However, there could be a revival this year as apart from Acko, more companies are in talks with investors to raise capital.