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<ul><li>With an annualized revenue of upwards of $25 million, Coverfox is working towards achieving a 500% growth rate in the next financial year.</li><li>While Coverfox focused on motor and <keyword id="6362363" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="health-insurance">health insurance</keyword> initially, it has eventually expanded its portfolio to include travel and life insurance.</li><li>Coverfox is looking at scaling up volumes by penetrating into the Tier II and Tier III cities.</li><li>It plans to go global in the next 2-3 years.</li></ul> Mumbai-based insurtech startup Coverfox is aiming big. With an annualized revenue of upwards of $25 million, the startup is working towards achieving a 500% growth rate in the next financial year. And it’s hopeful of achieving this by addressing the needs of the millennials who are well-versed with the digi-tech platform. Since its launch in 2013, Coverfox has acquired over a million customers and is working towards simplifying the entire process of insurance buying. Coverfox also launched its seller platform Coverdrive in 2017 which was primarily launched as a digital assistant for new insurance agents. In September this year, Coverfox reported that the platform issued close to a million policies across the country and grew by 300% for FY 2018-19. In a recent conversation with us, <keyword id="1179507" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Premanshu-Singh">Premanshu Singh</keyword>, CEO, Coverfox.com walked us through the platform’s journey so far and the factors that have helped them grow at a healthy pace. Edited excerpts: Q) Coverfox was launched in 2013. How has the journey been so far for the platform? We started with a small team, acquiring one customer at a time and we now have a million customers. We have expanded over the years to cover nearly all cities and states in the country. From the time of inception till date, we have been simplifying the insurance-buying process. We are now one of the most trusted InsurTech platform in which you can compare, buy and manage insurance policies on your own. While using the proprietary technology and algorithm-based platform, the users can easily compare and choose from a variety of plans from top insurers, understand the main features and then buy a policy that suits one’s needs. As a step forward, we also handhold the customers through the tedious claims process. The journey has been exciting, and we are energized to take it to the next level. Q) What was your primary business idea when you had launched and how has Coverfox evolved since then? We had the vision to create a digital ecosystem for the distribution of insurance, at the time when insurance wasn't even driven by technology. We realized that in such a tech-deprived ecosystem, the call-centre model was prone to mis-selling, attrition, and lack of a consistent user experience. These issues lead to limited accountability plus immense dissatisfaction amongst customers. Thus, we stayed true to the intention of creating an unbiased online insurance distribution business model and a tech-driven platform with no human error. We have successfully achieved digitization to quite an extent with the bike insurance product. Now 100% of the bike insurance business is unassisted. Also, 80% of the customers insure their two-wheelers under 4 minutes. The objective has always been to make the process of buying and managing insurance fast, simple, transparent and 100% unassisted for the user. Q) What kind of growth has Coverfox witnessed in the past few years? What rate have you grown at? We are growing at 4X and have the best InsurTech platform in Asia-Pacific. Coverfox focused on motor and health insurance in the initial days, and eventually expanded its portfolio to include travel and life insurance as well. With heavy investment plans in place on our B2C (Coverfox) and O2O (Coverdrive) platforms, we plan to delve deeper into the existing categories such as health, motor and life, while exploring some newer categories as well. We're the second largest InsurTech platform in India, and the largest one in the O2O space. Q) Today, a lot of platforms are offering what Coverfox has to offer. How do you differentiate yourself from the clutter? The online insurance space has a very limited penetration, which is less than 4% in India. However, the penetration rate is growing at a whopping 90%. The current insurance ecosystem is large enough to absorb multiple players. No one has an InsurTech platform like us that simplifies the entire insurance buying process for the end-user with minimal assistance. This is what differentiates us from our competitors. Q) It’s been more than a year since you launched Coverdrive. What kind of growth, adoption and reception has the platform witnessed? Coverdrive was launched in September 2017. The platform currently has over 50,000 agents registered across India. It has issued nearly a million policies and has witnessed a 300% growth for FY 2018-19. In fact, over one-third of Coverfox’s total revenue between the time span January 2017 and June 2019 came from our Point of Sale agents. We were able to achieve this milestone by tapping the power of technology. Q) What kind of revenues have you been getting and what’s the total funding you have raised till now? We have an annualised revenue of upwards of $25 million. We have raised a funding of $50 million approximately so far and are in the advanced stages of raising another $50 million. Q) What will your key focus areas be for the next few quarters? We will scale up whatever we offer, thereby making the journey comfortable and fulfilling for the customer. Our efforts will always be directed towards incorporating and scaling new technology, and solving new problems. We have been working with most insurance companies in the ecosystem and have associated ourselves with a partner who knows technology well and places the user right at the centre of the system. We are running towards creating 100% unassisted online buying journeys for our customers, while completely automating the claims plus endorsement process to reduce the turnaround time. We are looking at scaling up volumes by penetrating into the Tier II and Tier III cities. As of now, we plan to go global in 2-3 years from now. Q) Going ahead what will be your growth strategy? We plan to grow by 500% in the next financial year. We want to cater to the needs of the millennials who are very well-versed with the digi-tech platform. We have our customers spread across the major cities of India. We have expanded to approximately 800 cities so far. We are building a long-term business structure that is here to stay. We will just keep simplifying the complex world of insurance for our customers. With 35+ insurers on the platform, we are completely neutral and provide unbiased expert advice to all our customers. Only after careful scanning and thorough comparison does a user choose a product that best suits their requirements. We plan to go the extra mile to insure the last person on this planet! We are looking at building a profitable and sustainable business model, and constantly striving for the best.

With an aim of growing by 500% in the next financial year by catering to the needs of millennials, Coverfox plans to go global in the next 3 years

<ul><li>Paytm is reportedly in talks to acquire <keyword id="7716572" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="insurtech-startup">insurtech startup</keyword> <keyword id="2821957" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Coverfox">Coverfox</keyword> for $120 million. </li><li><keyword id="198636" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vijay-Shekhar-Sharma">Vijay Shekhar Sharma</keyword>, Paytm founder and CEO, had earlier in an interview with Business Insider said that they are looking at the <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> sector. </li><li>If closed, this could be one of Paytm’s biggest acquisitions. </li></ul>Paytm which has made its mark in the Indian digital payments space is reportedly looking at acquiring insurtech startup Coverfox for a whopping $120 million, reported <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/paytm-in-talks-to-acquire-coverfox/69625293">ET</a>. The reports say that the talks are in early stages, still. Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had earlier told Business Insider in an interview of their plans to expand financial offerings. “This year, we plan to double down on payments to reach Tier 5 and 6 cities of India. We are also looking at expanding our financial services – Insurance is one of the sectors that we want to get into,” Sharma had told BI. There are over 142 insurtech startups in India according to Tracxn. Online insurance industry in India is <a href="https://trak.in/tags/business/2014/03/19/online-insurance-india-growth/">reportedly</a> all set to be worth ₹200 billion by 2020. If it is closed, this deal would be Paytm’s biggest acquisition so far, marking its grand debut into the insurance sector. It will then compete with the likes of Policybazaar, also funded by Paytm’s investor – Softbank. Paytm’s valuation is set to hit $18 billion, according to <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/paytm-raising-up-to-2-billion-valuation-may-soar-to-18-billion/articleshow/68606766.cms">reports.</a> However, when reached out, Coverfox said, "As a company policy, we do not comment on speculation." Coverfox, whose parent company is Glitterbug Technologies, was reportedly in the market looking for a fresh round of funding of $50 million. Its latest valuation is <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/coverfoxs-parent-company-glitterbug-is-out-to-raise-50-million-in-new-round/articleshow/68313619.cms">reported </a>to be around $150-$200 million. In its last funding round in April 2018, the insurance aggregator had raised $22 million in a Series C funding led by IFC, Transamerica and existing investors - SAIF Partners, Accel and NR Narayana Murthy’s private investment arm - Catamaran Ventures. Coverfox was started in 2014 by Devendra Rane and Varun Dua. Two years later, Dua had gone on to found another insurtech startup Acko General Insurance. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facing-jio-paytm-founder-vijay-shekhar-sharma-plans-a-ticket-to-us/articleshow/69053166.cms">‘I want it all and I want it now’, says Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma as he plans a ticket to the US</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/binny-bansal-and-others-invest-65-million-in-insurtech-startup-acko-with-a-300-million-valuation/articleshow/68402912.cms">This Indian insurance startup may be worth $300 million in just over two years</a>

Paytm could be spending big money for its insurance debut

India has primarily been a life <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> market, currently at $60 billion and growing at 12% every year. General insurance on the other hand is currently a $11.44 billion market and growing at 17% year on year. 
 
Most of us are in general not aware about the features they should consider while buying Insurance. They find it hard to arrive at a decision about choosing the right plan because the information is not readily available. The insurance industry is still behind in its technology platforms.

	 
	<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-this-is-how-you-can-get-free-cloud-credits-on-digital-ocean/articleshow/56217172.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: This is how you can get free cloud credits on Digital Ocean</a> 
	 
	Coverfox.com is not an Insurance broker using technology. Every policy feature is looked at from multiple perspectives to arrive at its representation for the user in a way he or she understands the best. They have an internal policy scoring engine, which goes through over five dozen parameters for each insurance product, taking into account user demographics and giving personalized scores to each product for every user. 
	 
	<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/uber-reveals-how-indians-used-its-app-to-get-around-in-2016-and-the-results-are-fascinating/articleshow/56202166.cms">ALSO READ: Uber reveals how Indians used its app to get around in 2016, and the results are fascinating</a> 
	 In the wake of demonetization, we see many traditional sectors being affected and financial services haven’t been spared either. <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> got in touch with <keyword id="3000869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Devendra-Rane">Devendra Rane</keyword>,CTO &amp; Co-Founder, Coverfox to find out how the industry is shaping up after being forced to digitize, for consumer advantage. 
	 “The active Jan Dhan accounts, greater push on Aadhar integration, <keyword id="6358921" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="UPI">UPI</keyword> and other government initiatives have already laid the foundation of a cashless, digital economy. With demonetization, citizens understand the relevance of going digital. Moreover, people are also realizing how easy, secure and fast the digital medium of transacting is.’’ 
	 
	<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/bi-year-ender-five-surprising-startup-acquisitions-in-2016/articleshow/56184747.cms">ALSO READ: BI Year-Ender: Five surprising startup acquisitions in 2016</a> 
	 
	Going digital does bring down operating costs, the benefit of which will be brought down to the consumers in the form of discounts, better services and improved product line-ups. 
	 
	“There are two key areas in which the insurance sector will see impact of demonetization. In the short run, we are already looking at trends where more and more customers are willing to pay the premium online instead of cash to offline agents. If you look at the health insurance sector, hospitals do a lot of transaction in cash, however, with cashless claim settlement, you can go completely cashless. 
	 
	With active Jan Dhan accounts, insurance can be made available to a lot more Indians now. This will also increase insurance penetration and bring premiums down in the long run. 
	 
	“Demonetization has bridged the gap between people who are skeptical of online transactions and the efficient, effective technology that is at their disposal across industries’’ he signs off.

Exclusive: Coverfox tells us why
online insurance is a good idea, especially after demonetisation

2015 has been a momentous occasion for the burgeoning Indian <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startups">startups</a>, and Prime Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=narendra+modi">Narendra Modi’s</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startup+india">Startup India</a> initiative was the icing on the cake. 
 With policies devised especially keeping the need of <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> in mind and with aid from founders of startups themselves, it’s a given that they should be happy and content at the moment. 
 
However, that’s not the case. 
 This could be blamed on the fact that a few of the policies announced at the <keyword id="3003094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Startup-India">Startup India</keyword> event were quite ambiguous, not to forget generic. Thus, founders have some additional expectations from Arun Jaitley’s <keyword id="2783177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Budget-2016">Budget 2016</keyword> so that their demands relating to their personal sectors are more or less met. 
 According to Rajiv Sharma, MD and co-founder of <keyword id="3186078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="dPronto">dPronto</keyword>, a last-mile delivery and logistics company that was in the new for typing up with e-commerce giant Flipkart, the need of the hour is adequate budget resources allocated for the social sector. 
 
“While it is important to boost the confidence to global investors by way of structural reforms and find a way to achieve the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent in FY17, there shoudl also be high focus on inclusive growth and adequate measures to ensure upliftment of the rural sector, creation of more employment opportunities, and enriching the lives of women, children, senior citizens and people below the poverty line,” he believes. 
 
However, for Varun Dua, CEO and co-founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=coverfox">Coverfox,</a> a one of a kind online insurance portal, the key priority remains in deregulation and allowing<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=FDI"> FDI</a> in fintech. “Most fintech businesses like payment banks / insurance have heavy dependence on domestic capital which is mostly risk averse and thus scarce.” 
 
The Budget should also consider relaxation in structures which make private secondary transactions more liquid from a tax or complication perspective, Dua adds. 
 
Then, there’s Pankaj Vermani, the CEO of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=CLOVIA">Clovia</a>, an e-commerce website which focuses on lingerie, who believes that it should be seen that the boom experienced by the e-commerce industry in 2015 should continue, at any cost. 
 
“To ensure that the growth continues the <keyword id="6360189" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Union-Budget">Union budget</keyword> needs to provide greater tax clarity especially related to jurisdiction / taxability issues. We are also hoping for a positive clarification for the Central Sales tax on transactions such as cash on delivery, which involve inter-state movement of goods.In addition, today every region has different laws for eCommerce. To govern the sector better one needs better definition of the category and a centralized law," he signs off. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Budget 2016: This is what startups are expecting. Are you listening, Arun Jaitley?

It’s no secret that 2015 has been the year of <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>. We’re all talking about that fact and accepting it. But, now that the year’s coming to an end, it’s time we take a moment to acknowledge the people behind these successful and efficient startups. 
 
Hence, we at Business Insider round up five <keyword id="53533" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="entrepreneurs">entrepreneurs</keyword> who we think have made a mark this year and who will ensure that 2016 remains an exciting year for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startups">startups</a>- 
 
 
 
1. <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword>: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ritesh+agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</a>, CEO and founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=oyo">OYO Rooms</a>, India’s largest budget hotel chain which is present in more than 160 cities with 40,000 rooms under its umbrella is just 22 years old and a college drop-out. 
 
With the success of OYO Rooms, Agarwal has not only managed to change the entire hospitality game but also has rivals scurry to offer customers more budget options. And, to top it, Agarwal is also looking to acquire its rival ZO Rooms. We’re doubly excited to see how 2016 unravels for this young genius. 
 
 
 
2. Saurav Kumar: Four-year-old technology innovation firm <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cube26">Cube26 </a>was Saurav Kumar’s brainchild and is backed by Tiger Global and Flipkart amongst others. Kumar is known to bet big on innovations and Internet of Things and 2015 saw the release of its IOTA bulb which works via Bluetooth and can be synced with one’s phone. 
 
We’re expecting bigger things from Kumar next year! 
 
 
 
3. Varun Dua: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Varun-Dua-CEO-and-co-founder-of-online-insurance-portalCoverfox-says-the-finance-startup-space-holds-humongous-potential/articleshow/50269160.cms">Varun Dua</a> is one of the rare entrepreneurs who’ve looked towards the financial startup space and ended up founding <keyword id="2821957" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Coverfox">Coverfox</keyword>, an online insurance portal. The fact that the startup received over $14 million in funding is testimony to the fact that investors are sitting up and taking advantage of the humongous potential that the insurance space holds. For making insurance easier and taking it online, Dua makes it to our list! 
 
 
 
 
4. Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar: From a shared work-space to raising $150 million recently, Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar led<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=grofers"> Grofers</a>' growth story in 2015 has been tremendous. The startup completely revolutionized the way grocery is shopped and currently the company fulfills over 30,000 orders a day with an average transaction size of Rs 350. 
 
 
 
5. Varun Aggarwal: Varun Aggarwal, along with Himsanshu Aggarwal found Aspiring Minds, an Indian employability evaluation and certification company to enable equal opportunity hiring of entry-level talent in the IT industry. They’re the company behind AMCAT and have found reasonable success in the placement business. For taking the route unknown and working towards solving the hiring crisis in the country, Aggarwal has our vote. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

BI Year Roundup: Five
entrepreneurs who made a mark for themselves in 2015

“Even though 2015 has been the year of the burgeoning presence of numerous startups, very few of these look towards finance and even fewer look towards <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword>,” states <keyword id="3064929" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Varun-Dua">Varun Dua</keyword>, CEO and co-founder of <keyword id="1054184" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="online-insurance-portal">online insurance portal</keyword> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/An-online-insurance-portal-set-up-a-toll-free-helpline-to-help-Chennai-flood-victims-with-their-claims/articleshow/50109916.cms?from=mdr">Coverfox</a>, matter-of-factly. 
 This is what he thinks is one of <keyword id="2821957" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Coverfox">Coverfox</keyword>’s biggest advantage as very little has been done in terms of innovation and as a result there’s massive scope. Investors too have seemed to realize that- going by the figures that the company has managed to raise during its two rounds of founding. 
 
Having managed to get an IRDA Direct Broker license in early 2014, Mumbai-based Coverfox then raised $2 million in its Series A round of founding following it with a Series B round where it raised $12 million in April 2015. That’s not all. In September, the company bagged headlines for receiving an undisclosed amount of investment from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=narayan+murthy">N. R Narayan </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=narayan+murthy">Murthy’</a>s private investment firm Catamaran Ventures. 
The money he tells me is going to be invested heavily in two core areas- branding and technology. 
 
“It’s not enough that we create a seamless experience for customers looking to buy <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=insurance">insurance</a> online or package information in a way that is easier for them to understand unless we market ourselves well. All of this is no good if no one is aware of our existence and views us as a credible platform. We just launched our first ever TV campaign and going by the response, we’re hoping that should do the trick for us,” he elaborates. 
 
When asked about the biggest challenge affecting the online insurance market which seems to be growing due to the proliferation of smartphones, he is quick to answer that it’s agents. “Substituting agents who are the biggest reason the insurance market is predominately viewed as an offline player is a necessity. However, what helps is that with the number of career opportunities that are available right now, no one really wants to become a ‘LIC agent’ anymore. It’s being said that we’re losing close to 100,000 agents every year. It’s possible to earn more being an Ola or an Uber driver than by being an agent.” 
 
Another challenge he belies is undoubtedly the strict regulations which result in slowing down the pace of innovation. “Even though these regulations do help us as well, but sometimes they can cost us. For example, I can’t offer discounts even ifg my economics are in place as the pricing is also regulated,” he says. 
 
But, he’s hoping that these challenges fall short of stopping customers from, buying insurance online. Infact, he feels that if a customer is looking for a seamless transaction experience they should buy insurance on their portal as they have integrated almost 35 insurance companies on their portal offer better pricing than what’s offered offline. 
 
Additionally, what he thinks will benefit Coverfox in the long run is that the company is very focused on what it intends to achieve and as of now there are no plans of diversifying or acquiring. There are however plans of tie-ups. 
 Recently, Coverfox tied up with <keyword id="1945738" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Cardekho">CarDekho</keyword> to offer customers <keyword id="35490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="car-insurance">car insurance</keyword> and it is the used car market that they’re going to be heaving focusing on, as they believe that insurance of cars is a mandatory activity and hence the company has announcements of three tie-ups with large car-portals in the pipeline. 
 
“The aim is to be the leader in the car insurance market, very soon,” he signs off.

Varun Dua, CEO and co-founder of online insurance portal
Coverfox says the finance startup space holds humongous potential

In another instance of a company coming to the aid of Chennai residents who have been bearing the fury of unprecendented rains, <keyword id="2821957" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Coverfox">Coverfox</keyword>, an online <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> portal has set-up a dedicated service to help the flood victims of Chennai with their <keyword id="160628" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="insurance-claims">insurance claims</keyword>. 
 
The company has deployed a team of customer service representatives who will guide the people on all aspects of getting their claims approved in a quick-and-easy way. The services offered are free of cost and is open to all, irrespective of whether the person has got the insurance done through Coverfox. 
 
The helpline will provide guidance on claim related matters for life, home, car, bike and health insurance. Moreover, Coverfox will also help file the claim and follow up with the insurance company on behalf of the victims like they do for all their customers. 
 
People who have lost their insurance documents in the flood can also approach Coverfox, provide them with their basic details and they’ll help them track and then file their claims with the insurance company too. 
 
the Toll-free number is as follows: 1800-20-99960 
 
Here are some other details- 
 
Web URL: <a href="https://www.coverfox.com/chennai/" target="_BLANK￿￿￿￿">https://www.coverfox.com/chennai/</a> 
Email: <a href="mailto:chennai@coverfox.com">chennai@coverfox.com</a> 
SMS/Whatsapp on: +91 8828 4026 07

An online insurance portal set up a toll-free helpline to help Chennai flood victims with their claims

<ul><li>Shwetank Verma of <keyword id="11927726" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-insurtech-association" source="Orion">Indian Insurtech Association</keyword> highlighted that the online insurtech segment would create 1 lakh direct jobs by 2025.</li><li>Shishir Mankad of <keyword id="4893676" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="praxis-global-alliance" source="Orion">Praxis Global Alliance</keyword> expects that 2.5-3 lakh employment opportunities, both direct and indirect, would be created by insurtech industry by 2024.</li><li>Auto, health and life are expected to continue to be a big chunk of online insurance sales in India.</li></ul>Online insurance sellers in India are expected to create 250,000-300,000 jobs in the next three years as the insurtech sector is at the cusp of breakthrough growth. Shishir Mankad, managing partner and head of financial services at Praxis Global Alliance, told Business Insider that this would include both direct and indirect employment opportunities across verticals — technology as well as functional roles in product design and analytics, customer journey design, automation as well as fulfillment roles in sales and distribution, claims processing and more. The segment is expected to generate part-time earning opportunities for another 2-3 million people in the same time frame, Mankad added. Meanwhile, Shwetank Verma, co-founder of Indian Insurtech Association and founder of investment firm <keyword id="6403908" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="leo-capital" source="Orion">Leo Capital</keyword>, in an email interaction with Business Insider said that the online insurance sellers in India are expected to double their premium by 2025 and create over a lakh direct jobs. “The insurance distribution in India has been changing in a very different way. There was a time when distribution was largely a feet on street model. LIC [Life Insurance Corporation] alone has roughly 1.5 million agents and the rest of the industry put together nearly another 0.5 million. There are a similar number of executives working as employees in the industry. However, over the past 5 to 7 years attempts, have been made to create digital distribution infrastructure. These efforts will increase in the next few years,” Sanjib Jha, chief executive of Coverfox said. Indian online insurance players include initial public offering (IPO)-bound <keyword id="696009" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="policybazaar" source="Orion">PolicyBazaar</keyword>, Digit Insurance, BankBazaar, Coverfox and others. ACKO General Insurance is one of the startups that issues their own insurance policies instead of being a third-party seller. <keyword id="3067182" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dexter-capital" source="Orion">Dexter Capital</keyword>’s founder Devendra Agrawal, in an email interaction with Business Insider, noted that the Indian insurtech segment is a very large subsector of fintech and is largely dominated by traditional companies. There is very little innovation and user friendliness in the current offering, but there is scope for greater innovation as more startups emerge in the segment. He added that the new insurtech segment is likely to focus on three things. First, new product launches. Second, a more user-friendly interface and processes. Third, newer models would be introduced when it comes to insurance selling. Shwetank Verma of Indian Insurtech Association reflected a similar view, highlighting that there is a lot of scope for innovation in the insurtech sector and new categories like cyber insurance, <a href="https://content.naic.org/cipr_topics/topic_parametric_disaster_insurance.htm">parametric insurance </a>— a non-traditional insurance product that offers pre-specified payouts based upon a trigger event — and would gain more traction this decade by 2030. “Most of the insurtech action has been in terms of distribution of policies and a couple of insurers who are digital-first. While these categories will certainly see growth, our view is that the sector is at a tipping point. We expect to see a lot more action on other parts of the insurance value chain, be it underwriting or risk management or claims processing, or product design such as micro-insurance or embedded products,” Mankad of Praxis Global Alliance said. Even as the Indian insurtech sector progresses, health, auto and life insurance will continue to be the major chunk of insurance sales both online and offline, as per industry experts. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/google-bans-eight-dangerous-crypto-apps-find-out-if-you-have-them-on-your-phone/articleshow/85553621.cms">Google bans eight dangerous crypto apps – find out if you have them on your phone</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-continues-to-lead-in-ipv6-expansion-with-a-61-23-adoption-rate-globally/articleshow/85554413.cms">India continues to lead in IPv6 expansion with a 61.23% adoption rate globally</a>

Online insurance sellers expected to create up to 300,000 jobs in the next three years

<ul><li>India's Finance Minister, <keyword id="129243" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nirmala-Sitharaman">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword>, is on her way to get support for proportional assignment of tax on global tech giants at the upcoming <keyword id="42982" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="G20-Summit">G20 summit</keyword> in Japan. </li><li><keyword id="6354886" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ravi-Shankar-Prasad">Ravi Shankar Prasad</keyword>, India's IT Mininster, has stated that the Personal Data Security Bill will be one the first things on his docket as he embarks on his second-term.</li><li>Critics want PUBG banned in India as the addicted to the game is accused of causing heart attacks and disrupting marriages. </li><li><keyword id="6357120" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="paytm">Paytm</keyword> is looking to enter the insurance market in India will reports of the company looking to Coverfox for $120 million. </li></ul> This Tech Insider's daily of <keyword id="35609" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="tech-news">tech news</keyword> — everything that's happening in tech that you need know about today from Business Insider and its partner publications:

Today’s top tech news: India’s new government seeks higher taxes on tech giants, PUBG critics clamour for another ban

<ul><li><keyword id="18635" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> led a new round of funding for <keyword id="4943836" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Acko">Acko</keyword>, a digital insurance startup.</li><li>Acko’s main competition comes from sites like PolicyBachat, PolicyBazaar and Easypolicy. </li><li>Flipkart, Amazon’s primary challenger in the Indian market, has its own insurance portal called Sabin Advisors. </li></ul>After losing out on its offer to buy 60% stake in Flipkart, Amazon continues undeterred with its investments in India. The company is restarting its efforts by investing in Acko, a digital insurance startup based in the country. In its new round of funding, Acko managed to raise ₹809 million ($12 million) and also brought on a new investor, Ashish Dhawan, the founder of a private equity firm called ChrysCap. Reports of the US retail giant backing the startup have been <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/amazon-may-back-online-insurance-startup-acko/62322035">brewing</a> since January this year. Earlier, it was speculated that Amazon would come on board as a part of a new financing round of a total of ₹1 billion ($15 million). The actual amount may not be the complete billion, but it does bring Acko’s grand total up to ₹2.8 billion ($42 million). Not to mention, it’s the <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/amazon-leads-12m-funding-round-in-acko/64342454">first</a> investment by Amazon in India’s insurance sector. Founded by <keyword id="3064929" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Dua">Varun Dua</keyword>, one of the co-founders of Coverfox (an insurance comparison site), Acko’s main <a href="https://www.owler.com/company/ackogeneralinsurance#competitors">competition</a> comes from sites like PolicyBachat, PolicyBazaar, Easypolicy and PolicyX.com. At this point, they’re all generating more revenue than Acko. To its credit, it did <a href="https://www.owler.com/reports/acko/acko--ola--acko-partner-to-create-in-trip-insuranc/1522914840916">partner</a> with <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ola">Ola</keyword> in April earlier this year to provide an ‘in-trip insurance’ program. Regardless of whether users chose to ride a cab, auto or e-rickshaw, users could opt-in for insurance that would cover the loss of property, medical expenses, ambulance transportation cover etc. The company claimed it was the first of its kind. In the future, it’s <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/amazon-leads-12m-funding-round-in-acko/64342454">possible</a> that Amazon is looking to bring those financial products to retail consumers as well. That’s probably one of the reasons why Flipkart was <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/amazon-talks-invest-rs-100-crore-online-insurance-startup-acko-technologies-74073">interested</a> in investing in Acko as well, but the deal seems to have landed in Amazon’s lap instead. That isn’t to say that Flipkart isn’t getting into insurance as well. The company was recently acquired by <keyword id="80487" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="walmart">Walmart</keyword>, and had earlier <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/flipkarts-bansals-diversify-kick-off-new-venture-sabin-advisors/article10007641.ece">set up</a> its own insurance business and venture capital funding called ‘Sabin Advisors’ in December, last year. Acko already has backers like Catamaran Ventures, Hemendra Kothari of <keyword id="83987" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="DSP-Blackrock">DSP Blackrock</keyword> and Accel Partners, among others. The plan is that the company’s interface will completely be online, but for insurance claims there will operate offline centres.

Amazon invests $12 mn in Indian insurance start-up Acko

The growing start-up culture has certainly grabbed the attention of investors across India and overseas. But it is these beneficiaries that have generously become the patrons of many budding entrepreneurs. BI India lists down the top four investors, who have helped several start-ups and new firms to realise their dreams. 
	 
	<keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword> 
	 Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Group, turned a patron for start-ups in India in early 2014 when he invested in Boston based wind energy firm Altaeros Energies. He then went on to invest in several Indian eCommerce firms such as online jewellery retailer Bluestone, etailer Snapdeal, online lifestyle store Urban Ladder, online payment solutions <keyword id="6357120" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PayTM">Paytm</keyword> and online car retailer <keyword id="2702185" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="CarDekho-com">Cardekho.com</keyword>. 
	 
	The 77 year old private equity investor has also invested in social welfare firms such as Swasth India, Grameen India that focuses on microfinance, education and healthcare among others that caters to the lowest rung of the pyramid. 
	 
	<keyword id="6419840" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Azim-Premji">Azim Premji</keyword> 
	 
	This tech titan has set up a investment firm called Premji Invest in 2006 that invests his personal wealth in both listed and non listed companies including startups. The investment arm has preferred to remain low key and has never made its investments public. However, the firm did make investments in Snapdeal, Big Basket, Amagi Media among several others. 
	 
	NR Narayan Murthy 
	 
	The Infosys founder’s investment firm, Catamaran Ventures, has been encouraging startupreneurs by funding their companies. He feels that India’s future lies with the budding entrepreneurs. His investment firm has invested in startups such as Innoviti Payment Solutions, an online payment company, and Coverfox, an online insurance portal. 
	 
	<keyword id="249393" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajan-Anandan">Rajan Anandan</keyword> 
	 
	Search giant Google India’s MD, Rajan Anadan, is an angel investors for many startups. He primarily invests in technology startups and invested in 14 startups in 2014. Do we need to say more? 
	 
	Image Credit: Indiatimes.com

These investors have turned patrons for startups in India

If the data from the Q1 results of the global tech giants is to be believed, <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> is ruling the cloud roost. Amazon has accounted for 40% of the global market for public cloud services in the fourth quarter of last year. The Seattle-based company reported $890 million in operating income from its cloud business, <keyword id="141088" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Web-Services">Amazon Web Services</keyword> (<keyword id="291131" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="AWS">AWS</keyword>), which accounted for the majority of its Q1 2017 profits. Amazon is looking to diversify its product offerings and rely less on e-commerce as a main driver of revenue. AWS Summit 2017 in India indicated in the same direction. The country, being at the nascent stage of cloud computing is a big market for Amazon. Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon .com, speaking at the summit said, AWS in India has grown by more than 50% since last three quarters. Globally, Alphabet's (the parent company of Google) revenue grew 22% year-over-year (YoY) to reach $24.8 billion in the quarter, with $3 billion, or 18% of its Q1 revenue, coming from the segment that houses its cloud business. Amazon's revenue reached $35.7 billion in Q1, with $3.6 billion, or 10% of revenue, coming from its AWS cloud segment. <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> posted revenue of $23.56 billion, with $3.6 billion, or 10%, coming from cloud. While the data prove that the businesses in cloud is still awaiting maturity, experts believe, the segment will be increasingly important for each of the tech giants. This is because the digital ecosystem moves away from being device-centric and moves towards cloud-oriented solutions wherein products and services can be accessed on a variety of devices from virtually anywhere. This shift will be more pronounced in the years ahead, as consumers and employees seek greater mobility and the Internet of Things brings exponentially more devices into the digital fray. “Fortunately we don’t have to worry about bandwidth. And most importantly, we could save a lot on Devops. With cloud support from AWS, the start ups don’t need to bother much on this side. We are India-specific start ups and we don’t have much traffic at night. So we have the elasticity to pay for the duration we use the platform,” said <keyword id="3000869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Devendra-Rane">Devendra Rane</keyword>, CTO of Coverfox. In India, as major companies are now opening up to the cloud, the main growth driver, according to Vogels is the need for new kind of security that is now indispensable to run a business. “When we started everything was very local. As a result, there was manpower cost and licensing cost. So we took everything to cloud to make things easier and simpler. We scaled rapidly and everything was automated. Back in 2014, we were having our proof of concept about cloud and approached Netmagic and Microsoft Azure. Why we came to AWS was because they are very customizable. At that time, we had SQL in backend. Most others demanded to join Non-SQL platforms. However AWS was the only one, which was open to customization”, Soumyadeep Barman of Faasos, a major client of AWS told Business Insider. Be it machine learning or making things cost effective, AWS has been a major blessing to start ups, which can scale fast without bothering about nitty-gritty of developer options.

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