Singapore-based insurtech Igloo has successfully raised US$36 million in a Pre-Series C funding round led by Eurazeo, through its insurtech fund backed by the insurer BNP Paribas Cardif, and with participation from Openspace’s OSV+, and returning investor La Maison.
The latter two also participated in Igloo’s Series B and Series B+ fundraises respectively. Openspace’s investment in this round comes via its mid-stage fund, OSV+, which is focused on the Series C and D rounds of transformative technology companies in Southeast Asia.
This latest round comes just 10 months after Igloo’s previous Series B+ fundraise led by BlueOrchard through its InsuResilience Investment Fund II. In total, the company has raised US$100 million.
Raunak Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO at Igloo, said: “The support from our investors is testament to Igloo’s steady growth and resilience amidst macro headwinds and a validation of our strategy. We are the only insurtech player in Southeast Asia with a robust profit and loss statement, a diverse multi-product portfolio, and an extensive distribution line.”
According to the announcement, Igloo plans to use Eurazeo’s latest investment to support its regional expansion via strategic acquisitions.
“The new funding will go towards both horizontal and vertical M&A opportunities – having added intermediary licenses across SEA this year, in addition to its license in Indonesia. It will also increase its workforce by 20% across engineering, commercial, strategy and insurance-focused verticals. On the product and value chain enhancement aspect, it looks to double down on motor, health, climate-related products, underwriting and claims digitization and AI and blockchain technologies,” Igloo stated.
The insurtech’s recent scores include two innovative offerings. In 2022, it launched Ignite by Igloo, a digital platform that enhances the productivity of sales intermediaries in Vietnam and Indonesia.
The platform works with 22,000 sales intermediaries and agent partners and aims to close 2023 with 50,000 agents as it expands into other markets.
In line with Igloo’s purpose of improving financial inclusion for underserved segments, the insurtech explained, over 60% of Ignite by Igloo’s intermediary partners are female.
Described as a pioneering blockchain-based parametric insurance for farmers, Weather Index Insurance is Igloo’s second innovative offering.
The product has drawn interest from partners in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia for its potential to greatly benefit the agricultural sector. It has already been adopted by thousands of farmers since its launch last November and covers 20,000 hectares of coffee and padi farms.
So far, Igloo has facilitated over 500 million policies and aims to double its Gross Written Premium (GWP) from 2022. It has also actively established over 75 partnerships across six countries, expanding its product offerings to cover consumer finance, e-commerce, and logistics.
Matthieu Baret, Managing Partner – Venture, and Albert Shyy, Managing Director, at Eurazeo, commented: “With our investments in China, Indonesia, India, and Singapore, we’re extending our footprint with the ambition to become a leading player in Asia.
“We have been following Igloo for some time now and have been impressed by their evolution into a diversified insurance platform across channels and products. The insurance market in Southeast Asia is still very underpenetrated and we believe Igloo is in a strong position to help solve this by making insurance more easily accessible and understandable for consumers.”
