- GeneralIPO
- August 3, 2021
- 5 minutes read
Markets: Indian Insurtech Startup PolicyBazaar Files For IPO
PolicyBazaar, an Indian insurance-tech startup, has filed for an initial public offering on the country’s domestic markets. It recently submitted…
PolicyBazaar, an Indian insurance-tech startup, has filed for an initial public offering on the country’s domestic markets. It recently submitted documents to the market regulator in India, showing its intention to raise a substantial sum with a public debut.
- PolicyBazaar is an online insurance services aggregator and comparator. Basically, it’s a marketplace for choosing and buying insurance plans, with the company making money from leads generation and fees charged for policy sales on its platform.
- Filed papers indicate that PolicyBazaar’s IPO size is the equivalent of $809mn. Out of that, $504mn is sought to be raised by PolicyBazaar for itself while the rest ($305mn) will be existing investors in the company selling their shares. Also, the company indicated that it may consider raising about $100mn in a pre-IPO round.
- Among the existing investors selling include SoftBank, which plans to sell shares worth over $250mn, and PolicyBazaar’s founders who plan to sell shares worth $53mn.
- PolicyBazaar brought in $129mn in revenue for the year ended March 31, 2021, its filing shows. Overall, the company is unprofitable, but slightly so (relative to revenue), with a stated loss of $20mn in the same year. Compared to the previous year, PolicyBazaar’s revenue grew by 12%.
- PolicyBazaar is aiming for a valuation between $5-$6bn with its IPO. It’s a lofty valuation the company is gunning for, taking advantage of India’s currently hot domestic markets that recently saw the debut of another local startup – Zomato.
- Going into its IPO, PolicyBazaar’s anchor shareholders include Info Edge, a major tech investor in India, Japan’s SoftBank, and China’s Tencent. They’ve all helped fund the company with about $800mn so far before its imminent exit on the public markets.
