Amazon leads $12 Mn round in online insurance startup Acko

Acko-an online-only insurance startup has raised $12 million in Series A round led by e-commerce giant Amazon. New investor Ashish Dhawan, the founder of PE firm ChrysCapital and existing investor Catamaran Ventures, owned by Narayana Murthy, also participated in the funding round.

The aforementioned deal may not surprise many as Acko had raked in $30 million in its seed round of funding from Accel Partners, SAIF Partners, and Kris Gopalakrishnan, among others in May last year.

The Mumbai-based e-insurance startup reportedly initiated talks with Amazon for a potential deal in January this year. It was speculated that Amazon would invest and develop financial products along with Acko which will also act as a distributor of those products. Besides, Amazon could start selling a slew of financial products on its site.

It could not be ascertained whether Amazon will list Acko products on its website, but the digital insurance startup plans to ramp up its technology besides scaling up overall market and business with the fresh funds.

This is the second investment for the Seattle-based online marketplace behemoth in Indian startups this year. Last month it had infused Rs 144 crore in digital lending firm Capital Float.

In 2016, Varun Dua who also founded Coverfox had launched Acko General Insurance. Dua, later quit as a Coverfox CEO last year to head Acko. The startup utilises data and analytics to provide highly personalised insurance products through its digital platform.

Last month, Coverfox--an online insurance brokerage firm had also raised about $7 million as a part of Series C round.

Acko has received license from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to set up a general insurance company. Last month, cab aggregator Ola had tied up with Acko General Insurance and ICICI Lombard General Insurance to launch its in-trip insurance cover for all its riders.

The development was first reported by ET.