Igloo, a Singapore-based insurtech targeting underserved communities in Southeast Asia, has announced it has raised a $27 million Series B renewal, bringing the round’s total to $46 million. The first tranche of $19 million was announced in March, and led by Cathay innovation with participation from ACA and returning investors OpenSpace.
The latest round was led by the InsuResilience Investment Fund II, which was launched by German development bank KfW for the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and managed by impact investor BlueOrchard. Other lead investors included Women’s World Banking Asset Management (WAM), FinnFund, La Maison and recurring investors Cathay Innovation.
Igloo develops its insurance products and then works with insurers who underwrite their policies. Igloo currently works with 20 global, regional and local insurers in Southeast Asia. It distributes its insurance products through partnerships and works with more than 55 companies in 7 countries. It now offers 15 products, including policies for gig workers, gamers, cars and farmers in Vietnam, and says it has facilitated more than 300 million policies since 2019 and increased gross written premiums 30 times.
Co-founder and CEO Raunak Mehta told businessroundups.org that Igloo decided to pick up a Series B renewal due to investor interest after the first tranche of funds. The extension gives the startup a multi-year runway and will be used for recruiting, infrastructure, and M&A opportunities.
Mehta said insurance penetration rates in much of Southeast Asia are low, less than $100 USD per capita in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Igloo was founded to make insurance more affordable and relevant to the needs of Southeast Asian communities. Igloo distributes insurance products ranging from 2 cents USD for phone screen protection to $600 USD for comprehensive car insurance.
Igloo provides the tech stack for its products in Southeast Asia, which Mehta says means the entire insurance value chain, from product discovery to claims, is available on a single platform. This allows it to get the policies it distributes to market faster and can significantly reduce claims operational costs.
Mehta said more than 80% of claims are currently managed in an automated or semi-automated manner and that big data management, along with machine learning and artificial intelligence, has made it possible to reduce anti-selection risks, false positives and fraudulent claims. to decrease. By reducing the cost of claims management, Igloo is able to offer customers a lower premium.
An example of Igloo’s insurance policies are those for gig economy riders that it sells through its partnerships with Foodpanda in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, and Lozi and Ahamove Vietnam. The policy for Foodpanda, called PandaCare, includes auto, personal accident and hospital income protection for employees.
Another more recent one is the Weather Index Insurance product in Vietnam. The policy uses blockchain-backed smart contracts and automates claims payout by using pre-assigned values for crop losses caused by weather and other natural events. Igloo says the Weather Index Insurance is Vietnam’s first parametric insurance (or a policy agreeing to make pre-agreed payouts based on trigger events such as a flood) and the first integration of smart contracts into insurance.
Igloo also provides products that Mehta says directly or indirectly benefit women, through a partnership with Philinsure in the Philippines. They have distributed more than 5 million policies covering credit default, personal injury, home help and natural disaster assistance to women micro-entrepreneurs and their families. In Vietnam, more than 65% of agents using Igloo’s Ignite digital platform to sell insurance policies are women, and they are also the main beneficiaries of the Weather Index Insurance product.
insurtech’s distribution partners include telecom companies such as Telkomsel, AIS and Mobifone, and e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, Bukalapak and JD.ID. It also partners with financial services companies, such as AEON, Gcash and UnionBank, to sell policies for their customer base, and provides products to insure goods in transit and protect fleet drivers through logistics platforms such as Ahamove, Shippit, Loship and Locad .
Other insurtechs from Southeast Asia who want it increase insurance penetration in the region and have spawned major Series B rounds including Fuse and PasarPolis in Indonesia and Sunday in Thailand.
