True North, IDG Ventures commit $20 Mn in PolicyBazaar parent firm

As Wellington Management reached in advanced talks with ETechAces Marketing and Consulting, which owns PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar, private equity firm True North (formerly India Value Fund) and venture capital firm IDG Ventures India have joined Rs 500-crore of investment bandwagon in the online financial company.

The two Indian investment firms plan to invest $20 million in the company, according to an ET report.  

True North plans to invest around $15 million, while IDG Ventures will put in $5 million into the company.

Tiger Global-backed PolicyBazaar is looking at more domestic investors to join this round to ensure it meets the 51 per cent domestic investment criteria under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irda).

PolicyBazaar is looking to get more domestic investors on board in this round, confirmed Yashish Dahiya to ET.

With new funds pouring in, the company plans to expand PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar to new geographies and to also expand into newer categories of products apart from loans, credit cards and insurance.

"While the company has turned profitable, the founder believes now is the time to grow aggressively. Another reason behind raising capital is that what will Flipkart and Paytm do with the capital they have raised, and they could look at this space," said one of the sources to ET.

The FDI policy in the insurance sector has been reviewed to permit foreign investment up to 49 per cent.

Two months ago, online insurance brokerage firm Coverfox raised $15 million led by US insurer Transamerica and its existing investors. The latest round of funding raised the values of the Mumbai-based company to $100 million.

Earlier, last year Coverfox co-founder Varun Dua had launched Acko General Insurance. The newly launched company announced raised $30 million in seed fund in May from SAIF Partners, Accel Partner, former Infosys chief executive Kris Gopalkrishnan and Hemendra Kotharo, chairman of DSP Blackrock. Acko had also applied to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to set up a general insurance company.