PolicyBazaar


Policybazaar, is an Indian insurance aggregator and a global financial technology company based in Gurugram, India. The company was founded in June 2008 by Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar. It provides a digital platform - website and app - where users compare financial services from major insurance companies. The startup is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, India and is the country's largest insurance aggregator. The group has also expanded operations to the United Arab Emirates.

History

Policybazaar.com started out as an insurance comparison website. It was founded in June 2008 by Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar with a focus on the insurance sector. At that time, the Indian insurance industry still lacked transparency and policies were mostly sold through agents. Policybazaar changed that largely by listing the details of multiple insurance policies for customers to choose from. It began as a price-comparison website, and an information portal for learning about insurance and insurance programs. The aim was to provide Indian insurance buyers with an online platform to compare and buy a policy plan. The website subsequently expanded to becoming a marketplace for insurance policies. Policybazaar has also launched a Telugu website to help users to research and buy online in their native language.
Policybazaar has moved from a policy price comparison website to an insurance selling operation. The company claims to process nearly 25% of India's life insurance and over 7% of the country's retail health cover.
Policybazaar provides all types of insurance plans like life insurance, health insurance, motor insurance, travel insurance as well as group plans. The platform is designed to make comparing and buying insurance plans as per individual choice.
In 2015, Policybazaar launched its app for Android and iOS users.
Policybazaar has also adopted Amazon Polly and developed in-house AI chatbot PBee to improve customer satisfaction in 2018.
In February 2020, Sarbvir Singh was appointed CEO effective December 2019 while Yashish Dahiya took over the role of group CEO.

Investments

Policybazaar.com has so far raised US$366 million in 7 rounds of funding since its inception in 2008.

Seed

, which runs the online job portal Naukri.com, invested ₹20 crore as the seed fund in Policybazaar back in mid 2008.

Venture

Intel Capital and Info Edge invested Rs 60 crore into Policybazaar in May 2011 as part of the venture round.

Series A

Policybazaar raised US$9 million from Intel Capital and Inventus Capital Partners in its series A investment round.

Series B

Policybazaar raised US$5 million in its third round of funding in April 2013. This Series B investment was led by Inventus Capital Partners along with Info Edge and Intel Capital.

Series C

In May 2014, Policybazaar.com raised $20 million in a Series C round of funding from existing investors including Tiger Global Management.

Series D

Policybazaar raised around $40 million in its Series D round of funding in April 2015 from Premji Invest, the personal investment vehicle of Wipro chairman Azim Premji. The Series D also attracted money from Steadview Capital and ABG Capital.

Series E

Policybazaar raised US$77 million in its Series E funding round. This was led by At least three new investors including True North and IDG Venture Partners invested in this round. Also, several media reports claimed that Boston-based asset management firm Wellington Management Group invested the online insurance aggregator.

Series F

Policybazaar raised a total of US$238 million in June 2018 in its series F funding. Tokyo-based Softbank Group’s Vision fund led the round with its US$150 million investment that gave it a 15% stake in the parent company of Policybazaar - ETechAces Marketing and Consulting. The Series F investment saw Naukri.com owner Info Edge put in $45 million in the company through a special purpose vehicle, effectively lifting its stake to 13% from 9%.

Investor Portfolio

Policybazaar.com has tie-ups with insurance companies that help it procure information such as price, benefit, insurance cover etc. directly from the insurers.

Stakeholders

Users

Users can use the Policybazaar website or app to research, compare and buy insurance policies from over 40 insurance providers.

Insurance Companies

Policybazaar has companies, who offer car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, corporate insurance and travel insurance, as its business partners.

Regulator

regulates the insurance web aggregation business of Policybazaar. The company is registered as an insurance web aggregator under the .

Awards

Policybazaar in early 2019 tried to protect its intellectual property and filed a case against insurance company Acko General Insurance Company and Coverfox Insurance Broking Private Limited for trademark infringement.

Controversy

Dahiya said that China was "a bratty kid" and that "someone's got to stop China", despite receiving funding from Chinese company Tencent Holdings of around 10% reported in November 2019.