Policybazaar

Policybazaar is an insurance aggregator and fintech company, offer a range of insurance policies including, but not limited to, life, health, motor and corporate. The website and app compares more than 250 plans, from all major insurance providers in India, offering consumers with analysis on price quality and key benefits to ensure transparency and full understanding.

The company claims to account for 24% of India's life cover.

Policybazaar has stated it is focused on further developing its UX technology, and expanding internationally, beginning in the Middle East.

The company secured $200M in funding from SoftBank's Vision Fund in 2018, bringing the value of the policy aggregator to over $1B. Policybazaar has also been backed by Intel Capital, Wellington Management and Tiger Global Management, amongst others.

In August 2018, the venture introduced a multilingual interface geared towards two-wheeler users requiring coverage in tier-II and tier-III cities. The following month, they announced a $50M investment into telehealth company, DocPrime.

In November 2019 Tencent acquired a 10% stake in the company for $150m, valuing the company at around $1.5bn. PolicyBazaar has stated that the funding will be used to expand within financial services segments.

Policybazaar's FY2019 report, released early 2020, revealed losses grew by 23x in 2019 (Rs 213.1 compared to Rs 9.42 crore in 2018), whilst revenue almost doubled, reaching Rs 310.3 crore from Rs 158.3 crore in FY18.

In July 2020 PolicyBazaar reported a raise of $130m from SoftBank's Vision Fund, giving SoftBank a 15% stake in the business. This news came despite the insurance marketplace's CEO saying that SoftBank's previous pushes for the company to expand were a 'mistake' and led to losses.

That same month, the company revealed it was planning an IPO in 2021 at a valuation of $3.5bn+. It also confirmed it's aiming to raise a quarter of a billion in capital through new funding. If everything goes to plan, it would make it one of the biggest IPOs for an Indian startup.

In August 2020 rumours began circulating that Google was looking to potentially invest $150m into Policybazaar for a 10% stake as part of its overall plan to invest $10b into India over the next 5-7 years. In turn, Policybazaar investor SoftBank may also make a partial exit.

In February 2021 it was reported that Policybazaar parent Etechaces Marketing and Consulting was set to receive a $70m investment from Abu Dhabi investment firm ADQ ahead of its IPO, potentially valuing the company at $2bn. ADQ did not confirm the reports.

In August 2021, PolicyBazaar filed for an IPO, seeking to raise $809m. The company also revealed it was considering raising about $100m in a pre-IPO round.

In October 2021 it was revealed that the IPO of P.B.FinTech, parent company of Paisabazaar and Policybazaar, will open on the 1st November at the price of band at $12.53 per share. The offer will end on 3rd Nov. The proceeds of the IPO will be put towards enhancing the visibility and awareness of its brands.

In February 2022 Policybazaar partnered with life insurance company LIC to offer term and investment products to customers. Also in February, Policybazaar launched an AI-enabled WhatsApp chatbot for more efficient claim settlement in group health.

In June 2022 the company partnered with Max Life to launch a Smart Fixed-Return Digital Plan for millennials.

The company suffered a data breach in July 2022, stating no 'significant' customer data was exposed after 'certain vulnerabilities' in its IT systems were identified in a review.  

During October 2022 launched a mobile app for its agent partners. The recently launched app aims to simplify the conducting of insurance business for partners by letting them monitor their performance in a more effective way.