Insurtech Igloo has completed a US$36 million Pre-Series C funding round, led by global firm Eurazeo, through its insurtech fund supported by insurer BNP Paribas Cardif.
Openspace and La Maison, previous participants in Igloo's Series B and B+ fundraises, also contributed, underscoring their continued support for the company. Eurazeo's investment comes from its fund dedicated to innovative technologies in the insurance sector, while Openspace's involvement is through OSV+, a fund focusing on mid-stage technology companies in Southeast Asia.
This funding round follows Igloo’s Series B+ fundraising led by BlueOrchard-managed InsuResilience Investment Fund II and brings the company's total funding to US$100 million. Igloo's Pre-Series C round valuation represents a 50% increase from its Series B+ in 2022, as the company moves towards profitability in 2024. Igloo aims to double its 2022 gross written premiums (GWP) while maintaining a low burn rate, with a focus on engineering and data.
The new funding will be allocated towards both horizontal and vertical mergers and acquisitions, following Igloo's expansion of intermediary licenses across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. The company also plans to increase its workforce by 20% in various sectors including engineering, commercial, and insurance. In terms of product development, Igloo will focus on motor, health, climate-related products, and enhancing its underwriting and claims processes with digitisation and AI and blockchain technologies.
“The support from our investors is a testament to Igloo’s steady growth and resilience amidst macro headwinds and a validation of our strategy. We are the only insurtech in Southeast Asia with a robust profit and loss (P&L) statement, a diverse multi-product portfolio, and an extensive distribution line,” Igloo CEO and co-founder Raunak Mehta said.
“We have been following Igloo for some time now and have been impressed with 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,” Eurazeo managing director Albert Shyy said.
"We're always thrilled when the opportunity arises to keep investing in a company at the mid-stage that we’ve previously backed – and Igloo’s recent growth and steps towards profitability have given us further confidence in the business’s ability to capture and expand the insurance market in Southeast Asia. Our team has been actively involved in working with Igloo to this point, and those existing relationships will enable us to seamlessly continue adding operational and commercial value as the business integrates, acquires, and strengthens capabilities,” Openspace Ventures partner Jessica Huang Pouleur said.
Amidst the commencement of a busy shopping season, Igloo has recently encouraged shoppers to be on guard with regards to online shopping security, particularly in Southeast Asia.
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