POLICY BAZAAR Case Study: History, Valuation, Services & Growth
POLICY BAZAAR Case Study: History, Valuation, Services & Growth
Policybazaar is an Indian insurance aggregator and a global financial technology startup. 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 become 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 an in-house AI chatbot 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.
VALUATION
Tencent Holdings Ltd. has acquired a minority stake in Policybazaar.com valuing the Indian online insurance aggregator at $1.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal, as it tries to get a foothold in the country’s burgeoning insurance sector. In the fiscal year 2017-2018, PolicyBazaar’s turnover increased by 225% to reach INR 159.4 Cr against 49.1 Cr in 2016-2017. As confirmed by the founder of PolicyBazaar Yashish Dahiya, the company is aiming to earn revenue of Rs 10,000 Cr by Fiscal Year 2020. After the latest round of funding worth $150 million raised from Tencent Holdings, PolicyBazaar’s valuation now stands at over $1 billion.
PRODUCT & SERVICES
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.
It is an insurance web aggregator, that lets you compare insurance plans from different insurers, without having to visit different websites or brokers. It also allows you to buy them online, and manage your all policies and related documents in a single place.
GROWTH
– PolicyBazaar is known as the largest insurance aggregator in India. PolicyBazaar.com receives 100 million visitors annually. Sale of nearly 3,00,000 transactions a month. Over 15000 policies sold in a month. PolicyBazaar is known as the largest insurance aggregator in India. PolicyBazaar.com receives 100 million visitors annually.
– Sale of nearly 3,00,000 transactions a month.
– Over 15000 policies sold in a month.
– In the fiscal year 2017-2018, the company scored a growth of 225% in its revenues.
– After raising $200 Million from SoftBank and Info Edge in May 2018, PolicyBazaar’s valuation reached over $1 billion. Thus, PolicyBazaar became the second Fintech Company in India to enter the unicorn club after Paytm.
– PolicyBazaar occupies 50% of the market share in the online insurance space.
– It claims to hold 25% of India’s life insurance cover and around 7% of India’s retail health insurance business.
– In August 2018, PolicyBazaar launched DocPrime, an online medical service provider platform. DocPrime helps users in getting real-time consultation from doctors online through chat and call. The platform has become quite popular and within six months of operations, DocPrime’s website received 1 million unique visitors.
INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
ETechAces Marketing and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. (“Policybazaar Group”), the parent company of India’s leading insurance brand, Policybazaar.com, and India’s leading lending marketplace, Paisabazaar.com and newly launched health-tech platform, docprime.com, has now forayed into the UAE market, with the launch of its new venture, Policybazaar.ae, an online financial products marketplace, that would list insurance and lending products on its platform, to begin with.
The international expansion marks a milestone moment in the decade-old journey of Policybazaar Group that has shortlisted Dubai to serve as a hub for the UAE operations. The group has appointed Neeraj Gupta as the CEO for its new venture, Policybazaar.ae, in an elevation from his earlier role at the group of leading the motor insurance business for the flagship brand, Policybazaar.com.
With Policybazaar.ae, PolicyBazaar Group intends to become a one-stop-shop for consumer’s personal finance needs in the UAE region. Over the next three years, Policybazaar.ae is looking to build an extensive network of local banking and insurance partners, and underwrite premium worth INR 500 crore (AED 250 million) from the region. Policybazaar.ae is Policybazaar Group’s first overseas venture and is an online financial products marketplace, aimed at becoming a one-stop-shop for consumer’s personal finance needs in the UAE market. Policybazaar.ae currently partners with more than 10 partners across lending and insurance categories with 50+ products on offer.
