Policybazaar, the online insurance portal operated by corporate-backed, India-based financial services aggregator ETechAces, is looking to raise $250m in funding at a $2bn valuation, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
The round would come ahead of a targeted $500m initial public offering in India envisioned for September 2021, at an anticipated $3.5bn valuation. Policybazaar confirmed it was in the process of selecting two to three lead underwriters for the proposed offering.
Policybazaar runs an online marketplace for life, health, car, travel and property insurance provided by 40 partners. It maintains a customer service team to assist with settlements, policy amendments and payback redemptions.
Policybazaar’s parent company, ETechAces, is also the operator of loan and credit card marketplace Paisabazaar.
SoftBank Vision Fund, the multibillion-dollar investment vehicle managed by telecommunications group SoftBank, injected $130m into ETechAces earlier this month according to the Financial Times, a deal consisting of $50m in primary investment and $80m through a secondary share sale, giving it a 15% stake.
Internet group Tencent acquired a 10% stake in ETechAces in return for a $150m investment in November 2019, purchasing the shares from investment firm Tiger Global Management.
ETechAces had secured $152m in a series F round six months earlier featuring SoftBank Vision Fund, classified listings operator Info Edge’s Diphda Internet Services division, True North and Startup Holding.
SoftBank Vision Fund led a $238m round in June 2018 that was also dubbed a series F round, but the FT suggested in its latest report that SoftBank’s commitment at the time was the one that closed this month.
Info Edge and True North were initially reported to be part of the 2018 round, before ETechAces said the following month that Info Edge and Temasek had supplied $27.7m in funding.
Temasek, True North, Tiger Global, PremiInvest, IDG Ventures India and Wellington Management had all contributed to a $77m series E round for the company in 2017.
Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, Steadview Capital, PremjiInvest and ABG Capital provided $40m in series D funding for ETechAces in 2015, after Tiger Global and undisclosed existing shareholders had supplied $20m in series C capital the year before.
Temasek reportedly also bought $17.6m worth of shares from Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of chipmaker Intel, in 2014.
Info Edge took part in the company’s $5m series B round in 2013 alongside Intel Capital and Inventus Capital Partners, having provided an undisclosed amount of seed capital in 2011.
