[Reinsurance News] Qoala becomes SEA's fastest growing insurtech through $65m Series B funding

Originally posted on Reinsurance News

By Jack Willard

Indonesian insurtech start-up Qoala, has announced that it has successfully raised Series B funding of US$65 million, a thirty times growth since the company’s Series A round in April 2020.

The Series B funding was led by by Eurazeo with participation from other existing investors including Flourish Ventures, KB Investment, MassMutual Ventures, MDI Ventures, SeedPlus and Sequoia Capital India. At the same time, BRI Ventures, Daiwa PI Partners, Indogen Capital, Mandiri Capital Indonesia and Salt Ventures also joined the investment round as new investors.

Qoala distributes retail insurance products to consumers for car, bike, home, and health through its omnichannel platform.

Based in Indonesia, the platform has successfully expanded to Thailand and Malaysia in 2021, helping to strengthen Qoala’s commitment to making insurance accessible, easy to understand, and help consumers better with their claims.

Having grown thirty times since the Series A round, Qoala has become Southeast Asia’s (SEA) fastest growing and first insurtech company with licences and presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

The company has acquired over 50,000 insurance marketers, and provides a platform supported by over 50 insurers for them to sell insurance from multiple insurers, while managing pre-sale and post-sale services.

Qoala also provides several innovative micro-insurance products through its partnerships with Traveloka, Redbus, DANA, JD.ID, Shopee, Kredivo and Investree among others.

In addition, the company sets itself apart through a superior stack, which enables them to offer industry-leading speed in policy issuance, instant pricing, as well as an industry first – instant commissions to insurance marketers.

Global insurers, Sompo, AXA, and Chubb have also joined Qoala’s platform due to their focus on retail customers so they can fasten insurance adoption while maintaining healthy loss ratios.

Furthermore, in a press release, Qoala noted that it aims to add over 250 employees this year to focus on building out an engineering and product management hub in Gurugram, India. In parallel, Qoala also plans to grant employees with equity compensation and give them the right to acquire shares in the company to strengthen employee ownership in the company.

Tommy Martin, Co-founder and COO of Qoala, said: “Qoala is the only insurtech with licenses in three markets in SEA and with this new round we are optimistic in sustaining our growth momentum. Our business in Thailand has also already grown by three times since we joined forces with FairDee in February 2021, which gives us confidence in our expansion capability.”

Smita Aggarwal, Global Investments Advisor at Flourish Ventures, commented: “Qoala’s business model of expanding the use of insurance among underserved consumers in Southeast Asia resonates with our thesis of backing innovation to improve financial health of households. We are excited about the momentum that Qoala has generated since we last invested in Series A. We at Flourish Ventures are pleased to continue our commitment to Qoala.”

Tara Reeves of Eurazeo, a European investment firm who led this round and previously funded WeFox, the largest insurtech in the world also added: “Qoala stands out amongst the insurtech companies due to its diverse team which has been able to deliver rapid growth with promising unit economics despite the pandemic. With regional presence and fast growth forecasted for the region, we are excited to lead this round and join Qoala in its journey.”

Harshet Lunani, Founder and CEO of Qoala, also added: “We will continue to invest towards scaling up Qoala’s reach in our core markets and focus on enhancing our technology and product experience to greatly reduce the hurdles to accessing insurance that are today still very significant.”

Lunani, continues: “Insurance penetration in Indonesia is currently only 2%, far behind the global average of 6%, with most consumers just beginning to understand the value of insurance and hence there is plenty of room for growth. Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia are amongst the top 10 fastest growing global markets for insurance in the next decade.”