Blockchain enabled Insurance service platform raises 75 million USD for expansion in UAE

PolicyBazaar Indiaa portal dedicated towards insruance services, which utilizes Accrivis Blockchain solution, has raised $75 million (AED 275 million) which will be used for expansion UAE and Middle East expansion plans. The investment was led by Falcon Edge Capital; a diversified global alternative asset management firm started in 2012 and currently with approximately $5bn in assets under management.

This investment is the largest financing round in the online insurance space within the entire UAE region. The funding will drive aggressive expansion across the UAE and the Middle East. Policybazaar UAE aims at enhancing customer experience by providing a suite of customized insurance and financial services products across multiple categories. Yashish Dahiya, Co-founder & Group CEO, Policybazaar.com said, “As a brand, we are scratching the surface of how powerful online insurance and lending business can be when it is combined with advanced technology. PolicyBazaar.ae’s offerings are well-timed with the rapidly increasing demand for digital solutions in the insurance and financial lending sector. We believe that the $2.5bn market will continue to see a substantial shift towards digital operations. We aspire to bring the powerful solution that we offer customers and manufacturers in India, to the UAE. The coming financial year, we aim to scale 5 times in size and scale.”

Given the tremendous success of digitizing the insurance eco-system in India, the PolicyBazaar Group aims at bringing the same transformation and revolution to the online insurance sector in the UAE region through this investment. The funding builds on Policybazaar.ae’s very strong performance which saw it rapidly scale customers along with insurers and lending partners. For now, the brand aims at expanding its business operations within the UAE and further covers other geographies within the Middle East in the next 18 - 24 months.

Founded in 2008 by Yashish Dahiya & Alok Bansal PolicyBazaar India is an online platform allowing users to purchase life insurance, general insurance. The company features products from all major insurance companies in India. PolicyBazaar has over 100 million visitors yearly and sales of 400k transactions a month.

“PolicyBazaar has shown stellar innovation, execution, and relentlessness in establishing itself as the market leader in online insurance aggregation in India. We believe the playbook it has established over the last 10 years in being the most efficient sales channel for insurance manufacturers, can act as a catalyst to gain market leadership in the GCC,” said Navroz D. Udwadia, Co-founder of Falcon Edge Capital.

Also, speaking about the funding Neeraj Gupta, Chief Executive Officer of Policybazaar UAE said, “We are focused on opportunities to build and leverage affordable and sustainable insurance products. In essence, the brand is committed to building motor, health and life insurance product categories in the UAE region. So far, we have sold sum assured worth $100 million through our term life insurance products and we intend to scale this figure to $1 billion in the next 12 – 18 months. In the coming months, we aim to create efficient solutions to address the dearth of customized life insurance products to help customers get adequate financial protection against Death, Disease and Disability.”