Igloo closes US$36M Pre-Series C fundraise with 50% valuation increase

SINGAPORE, Dec 8, 2023 – (ACN Newswire) – Regional insurtech Igloo right now introduced that it has closed a US$36 million Pre-Series C funding spherical. Global funding agency Eurazeo, by way of its insurtech fund backed by the insurer BNP Paribas Cardif, led the funding. Openspace and La Maison, who beforehand participated in Igloo’s Series B and Series B+ fundraises, additionally joined in, reaffirming their confidence within the firm’s robust enterprise fundamentals. Eurazeo invested by way of its insurtech fund centered on modern applied sciences and enterprise concepts disrupting the insurance coverage business, while Openspace’s funding on this spherical comes through its mid-stage fund, OSV+, which is targeted on the Series C and D rounds of transformative expertise firms in Southeast Asia.

Matthieu Baret, Managing Partner – Venture at Eurazeo shared: “We are thrilled to spend money on Igloo with the insurer BNP Paribas Cardif. With our investments in China, Indonesia, India, and Singapore, we’re extending our footprint with the ambition to turn out to be a number one participant in Asia.”

“We have been following Igloo for a while now and have been impressed with their evolution right into a diversified insurance coverage platform throughout channels and merchandise. The insurance coverage market in Southeast Asia continues to be very underpenetrated and we imagine Igloo is in a robust place to assist clear up this by making insurance coverage extra simply accessible and comprehensible for customers,” shared Albert Shyy, Managing Director, Eurazeo.

This newest spherical comes simply 10 months after Igloo’s earlier Series B+ fundraise led by BlueOrchard-managed InsuResilience Investment Fund II. In whole, the corporate has raised US$100 million. Notably, Igloo’s Pre-Series C spherical closed at an elevated valuation of fifty % from its Series B+ spherical in 2022, as the corporate strikes nearer to profitability in 2024. Igloo is on monitor to double its 2022 Gross Written Premiums (GWP) at a low burn price; its sturdy engineering core and knowledge focus, the corporate’s path to profitability in 2024 is ready.

“We’re all the time thrilled when the chance arises to maintain investing in an organization on the mid-stage that we’ve beforehand backed – and Igloo’s latest progress and steps in the direction of profitability have given us additional confidence within the enterprise’s means to seize and develop the insurance coverage market in Southeast Asia,” mentioned Jessica Huang Pouleur, Partner, Openspace Ventures. “Our workforce has been actively concerned in working with Igloo up to now, and people current relationships will allow us to seamlessly proceed including operational and business worth because the enterprise integrates, acquires, and strengthens capabilities.”

Asia’s insurance coverage market is brimming with untapped potential, particularly in rising economies like Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Despite the rising adoption of insurance coverage, many stay underinsured. This huge, underserved demographic has caught the eye of traders, with firms like Igloo standing out on account of their modern method to the evolving panorama in these markets – addressing ache factors throughout the insurance coverage worth chain for insurers, gross sales intermediaries, retailers and customers.

Igloo’s latest scores embody two modern choices. In 2022, it launched Ignite by Igloo, a digital platform that enhances the productiveness of gross sales intermediaries in Vietnam and Indonesia. Ignite by Igloo works with 22,000 gross sales intermediaries and agent companions and goals to shut 2023 with 50,000 brokers because it expands into different markets. In line with Igloo’s objective of bettering monetary inclusion for underserved segments, over 60 per cent of Ignite by Igloo’s middleman companions are feminine.

Another innovation for Igloo is its Weather Index Insurance, a pioneering blockchain-based parametric insurance coverage for farmers. The product has drawn curiosity from companions in Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia for its potential to drastically profit the agricultural sector. Despite its novelty in a extremely conventional sector, Weather Index Insurance has already been adopted by 1000’s of farmers since launching final November and covers 20,000 hectares of espresso and padi farms.

Igloo has facilitated over 500 million insurance policies and goals to double its Gross Written Premium (GWP) from 2022. As of right now, it has additionally actively established over 75 partnerships throughout six nations, increasing its product choices to cowl client finance, e-commerce, and logistics. In August 2023, Igloo was named ‘Insurtech of the Year’ by the Asia Fintech Awards.

The new funding will go in the direction of each horizontal and vertical M&A alternatives – having added middleman licenses throughout SEA this 12 months, along with its license in Indonesia. It can even increase its workforce by 20% throughout engineering, business, technique and insurance-focused verticals. On the product and worth chain enhancement facet, it seems to double down on motor, well being, climate-related merchandise, underwriting and claims digitization and AI and blockchain applied sciences.

Raunak Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO at Igloo, shared, “The assist from our traders is a testomony to Igloo’s regular progress and resilience amidst macro headwinds and a validation of our technique. We are the one insurtech in Southeast Asia with a sturdy revenue and loss (P&L) assertion, a various multi-product portfolio, and an in depth distribution line.”