Founded in 2008, PolicyBazaar, India’s premier insurance aggregator, has evolved from a price comparison platform to a comprehensive insurance marketplace.
The company, which began by offering insurance policy comparisons and information, has experienced rapid growth and now provides support for policy cancellation, renewal, and claims processing, solidifying its position in the insurance industry.
Services
PolicyBazaar is the go-to platform for a wide range of insurance needs, offering more than 250 insurance plans from around 50 brands. With a user-friendly interface, visitors can easily compare and purchase insurance plans tailored to their requirements.
The company continually enhances the customer experience by introducing features like ‘My Account,’ allowing policy downloads, ticket submissions, and policy upgrades. PolicyBazaar has also introduced a self-inspection video feature for lapsed motor insurance.
To boost customer satisfaction, PolicyBazaar adopted Amazon Polly and developed PBee, an AI chatbot. The company’s mobile app, launched in 2015 for Android and iOS, offers not only the ability to search, compare, and purchase insurance but also features like a hospital and garage locator, an insurance premium calculator, instant policy renewal, and claims assistance.
Simplifying insurance choices
PolicyBazaar.com is an insurance aggregator that empowers customers to research and compare insurance policies, enabling them to make well-informed decisions. Operating on both B2C and B2B models, the company collaborates with insurance brokers to source essential policy information, including pricing and coverage details, which customers can readily compare. Remarkably, this service is provided to customers at no cost, making it a valuable resource for policy selection.
Funding recieved
PolicyBazaar has garnered impressive funding, raising over $904.9 million across 15 rounds from 33 investors. In its most recent funding round on October 6, 2023, the company secured approximately $104.5 million. As of November 2021, the company held a valuation exceeding $7.27 billion. Notable investors include PB Fintech, Falcon Edge Capital, Softbank Vision Fund, Tencent Holdings, and Intel Capital, among others.
Growth till now
PolicyBazaar, India’s largest insurance aggregator, demonstrates impressive growth with a staggering annual run rate of 100 million visitors and more than 300,000 monthly transactions.
Notable highlights include selling over 15,000 policies in a month, achieving a 225% revenue growth in the fiscal year 2017-2018, and securing a unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $1 billion following a $200 million investment from SoftBank and Info Edge in May 2018.
The company also dominates the online insurance space with a 93.4% market share as of April 2022, holds 25% of India’s life insurance coverage, and claims 7% of the retail health insurance market. With 51+ lakh vehicles insured and over 7 lakh satisfied health insurance customers, PolicyBazaar stands as a significant player in the insurance industry.
Challenges faced
PolicyBazaar’s Marketing Head, Sai Narayan, points out that customer inertia is a significant challenge in the insurance industry, as many still prefer traditional agent-based purchases over online options. Additionally, many Indians primarily see insurance as a tax-saving tool, often overlooking its broader financial security benefits. Consequently, a majority of insurance sales occur during the tax-saving season, from January to March.
Bottom line
PolicyBazaar made an acquisition, securing Visit Internet Services on January 15, 2022, with an investment of Rs 22.4 crore. Notably, PolicyBazaar’s primary competitors in the insurance sector include BankBazaar, CoverFox, EasyPolicy, CreditMantri, PolicyAdvisor, Acko, and InsurancePandit.
PolicyBazaar’s future plans revolve around maintaining its market leadership in the insurtech sector. This includes growing underwriting premiums, expanding its customer base, increasing revenue, aiming for profitability, innovating new products and technology for enhanced customer satisfaction, and pursuing successful international expansion in the years ahead.
Read more: Paytm’s Journey: From Digital Payments Pioneer to Financial Services Powerhouse
