ACKO Acquires Parentlane, the Digital Health Platform for New Millennial Parents

Strengthens its content and healthcare delivery capabilities

ACKO has acquired Parentlane, a leading digital health platform in the maternity & child health space. The technology platform empowers young millennial parents with proactive healthcare solutions from preconception to the most critical early childhood development phase.

This is a significant step for ACKO towards building a digital healthcare ecosystem focused on solving core problems in healthcare access for customers. The platform, combined with ACKO's core insurance offering, will deliver personalised content and services to enable better healthcare choices, informed decisions, and improved outcomes.

ACKO wants to be every customer's friendly companion during all stages of their healthcare journey. For young millennial parents, who comprise most of ACKO's customer segment, maternal care is the first in-depth hospitalisation or healthcare experience. With this acquisition, ACKO improves its ability to not only provide continuum care for maternal care but also aims to develop specialised care programmes for many other conditions.

While speaking about the acquisition, Varun Dua, Founder of ACKO, said, "At ACKO, we are constantly working towards strengthening the customer value proposition, and the Parentlane acquisition is a step in that direction. As both ACKO and Parentlane seek to address the problems in healthcare, there is total alignment in our respective philosophies. Parentlane has built a successful engagement-led technology platform for maternal health, which we believe will play a significant role in helping us provide comprehensive healthcare service to our customers and expand beyond the core insurance offerings by partnering with the healthcare ecosystem."

"I am excited to welcome Vijay and the entire Parentlane team to ACKO Family," he added.

Vijay Anand, Co-Founder and CEO of Parentlane, will join the Acko leadership team and spearhead strategic initiatives for the company.

While speaking about the acquisition, Vijay said, "Parentlane has been a gratifying experience for us as we offered comprehensive care to young couples during one of their most exciting and important life milestones. During this journey, we discovered the significant value that insurance brings to customers and how it could potentially become the primary gateway for consumers to access healthcare services and improve their health outcomes. I met Varun, and the ACKO leadership team felt a sense of alignment with their vision, and we are now excited to find a new home at ACKO to make a larger impact by joining forces."

Parentlane currently serves over 2 million users yearly on the platform with personalized content and delivers healthcare services by partnering with many leading hospitals across the country. In addition, the company has built a rich repository of 10,000+ content pieces in multiple formats, which the platform leverages to personalise information based on customer lifecycle stages and various health conditions.

ACKO Technology and Services Private Limited (“ACKO") is the parent company of ACKO General Insurance. ACKO, founded in 2016 is a digital-first direct-to-consumer company that builds and operates technology and services platforms. Driven by a relentless focus on superlative customer experience and with its transformative technology, ACKO helps create superior customer value propositions and more engaging experiences.

Amazon backed InsurTech Firm Acko Acquires Online Car Selling Startup vLer

Mumbai-headquartered Acko India, an insurance technology platform backed by Amazon, Accel and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, has acquired vLer Technologies Pvt Ltd, an online car selling startup also headquartered in Mumbai, for an undisclosed amount, to get deeper into strengthening its auto insurance offerings.

With acquisition of vLer, Acko Insurance, which offers insurance products including motor insurance, in-trip domestic insurance and mobile insurance, will improve its offerings to customers and provide better customer satisfaction across the entire lifecycle of car purchase and usage.

Founded in 2016, by IIT Bombay almuni Sanjay Bharti and Jeevam Sirela, VLer helps customers purchase cars online. It provides car buyers a platform through an algorithm-based recommendation system, and dealer negotiations. Besides that it takes care of financing, insurance and other related paperwork after the deal is finalized.

Post acquisition, both the co-founders of vLer will be joining Acko Technology team.

vLer has also developed a recommendation engine which maps customers requirement with the cars available in the market to give them the best recommendations on choosing a particular car. With this, a typical urban customer doesn't have to go to dealers when thinking of buying cars but sit back and relax while vLer does the work of bringing the cars at doorstep.

"Insurtech is our core and major focus area. Our next steps on this are to track down various data points on customer behaviour, usage patterns to enhance insurance and underwriting technology. We believe with the domain expertise of VLer team, it will help us leverage this faster." said Ruchi Deepak, co-founder of Acko.

Founded in 2017 by Varun Dua, who is also founder & CEO of Coverfox.com, Acko Technologies is a parent company of Acko General Insurance. Acko follows an online-led model and hence all operations for the company are offered through the digital platform. The company received its license from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) in September 2017 and in the same month raised the largest amount of seed round of $30 Mn before its launch in India.

In May last year, Amazon led $12 million funding round of Acko Technologies, marking Amazon's first investment in India’s insurance services sector.

To date, Acko General Insurance has raised a total of about $107 Mn in funding over three rounds from investors such as Amazon, Accel Partners, SAIF Partners, Catamaran Ventures and Binny Bansal, among others.

Amazon Leads $12 Mn Funding of Mumbai's Insure-Tech Startup Acko

US based e-commerce giant Amazon has led a $12 million ( ~ ₹81.27 crore) funding round in Acko Technologies, which is a digital-only insurance startup headquartered in Mumbai, reported ET Tech. The financing round also saw the participation of Ashish Dhawan, the founder of PE firm ChrysCapital, and existing backer Catamaran Ventures.

IndianWeb2.com first reported that Amazon is close to invest in Acko, in January this year.

With this, Acko becomes Amazon's first investment in India’s insurance services sector. Prior to this, Amazon had invested $22 million in Capital Float, a Bengaluru headquartered digital lending startup, last month. In 2015, Amazon also picked up a minority stake in financial services marketplace BankBazaar.

Founded in 2017 by Varun Dua, who is also founder & CEO of Coverfox.com, Acko Technologies is a parent company of Acko General Insurance.

In May 2017, Acko had received $30 million (about ₹200 crore) even before its launch and it was also touted to be one of the largest seed rounds for the Indian startup ecosystem.

Last month, Acko launched in-trip insurance program for riders of cab hailing firm Ola across more than 110 cities in India. Through this, Acko covers riders for obvious items like minor accidents, and eventualities like missing a flight due to traffic delays. The insurance claim system is built into the Ola app to simplify the process for users.

“We will be beefing up the technology. It’s heavily intensive, both, operationally and technology-wise to set up claims across the country…The other thing will be to scale up our marketing efforts and the business overall,” Varun Dua, chief executive of Acko, told a business daily.

Speaking about this investment, Amit Agarwal, senior vice president and country manager at Amazon India, said in a statement: “Acko is a young and nimble startup bringing technology and data-led innovation to the insurance sector to deliver a better insurance experience for customers."

"We are excited to back companies that are focused on using technology for enhanced customer experience and are led by missionary founders and management teams," he added.

[Top Image - Varun Dua | Image Source - BWDisrupt.businessworld.in]

Amazon Leads $12 Mn Funding of Mumbai's Insure-Tech Startup Acko

US based e-commerce giant Amazon has led a $12 million ( ~ ₹81.27 crore) funding round in Acko Technologies, which is a digital-only insurance startup headquartered in Mumbai, reported ET Tech. The financing round also saw the participation of Ashish Dhawan, the founder of PE firm ChrysCapital, and existing backer Catamaran Ventures.

www.indianweb2.com first reported that Amazon is close to invest in Acko, in January this year.

With this, Acko becomes Amazon's first investment in India’s insurance services sector. Prior to this, Amazon had invested $22 million in Capital Float, a Bengaluru headquartered digital lending startup, last month. In 2015, Amazon also picked up a minority stake in financial services marketplace BankBazaar.

Founded in 2017 by Varun Dua, who is also founder & CEO of Coverfox.com, Acko Technologies is a parent company of Acko General Insurance.

In May 2017, Acko had received $30 million (about ₹200 crore) even before its launch and it was also touted to be one of the largest seed rounds for the Indian startup ecosystem.

Last month, Acko launched in-trip insurance program for riders of cab hailing firm Ola across more than 110 cities in India. Through this, Acko covers riders for obvious items like minor accidents, and eventualities like missing a flight due to traffic delays. The insurance claim system is built into the Ola app to simplify the process for users.

“We will be beefing up the technology. It’s heavily intensive, both, operationally and technology-wise to set up claims across the country…The other thing will be to scale up our marketing efforts and the business overall,” Varun Dua, chief executive of Acko, told a business daily.

Speaking about this investment, Amit Agarwal, senior vice president and country manager at Amazon India, said in a statement: “Acko is a young and nimble startup bringing technology and data-led innovation to the insurance sector to deliver a better insurance experience for customers."

"We are excited to back companies that are focused on using technology for enhanced customer experience and are led by missionary founders and management teams," he added.

[Top Image - Varun Dua | Image Source - BWDisrupt.businessworld.in]

Amazon Close To Invest In A Mumbai Startup

US based e-commerce giant Amazon is close to invest in a Mumbai based startup called Acko Technologies, which is a digital-only insurance startup. Amazon is in final stages of the deal and might close anytime soon, reported Times of India.

According to the report, Amazon could invest about ₹100 crore in the plausible funding round of the startup and come on board of Acko.

Founded in 2017 by Varun Dua, who is also founder & CEO of Coverfox.com, Acko Technologies is a parent company of Acko General Insurance.

In May 2017, Acko had received $30 million (about ₹200 crore) even before its launch and it was also touted to be one of the largest seed rounds for the Indian startup ecosystem. The funding round saw the participation of N R Narayan Murthy's Catamaran Ventures, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Hemendra Kothari of DSP Blackrock, and VC firms Accel Partners and SAIF Partners.

Notably, it was also reported that Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart was too in talks for possible investment but it didn't materialize and now Amazon is just on verge of the another record funding of Acko.

If Amazon invests in Acko, which looks very much certain, the US firm will then co-create a financial product with the Indian startup. And this will then change the ball game altogether in Indian market especially for players like Paytm.

Acko Receives Final Licence from IRDA to Start Operations in India by Late 2017

Acko, India’s first online General Insurance Company today announced that it has received the final clearance from Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA), enabling the company to commence general insurance business in India. The company had filed the application for the licence with IRDA to set up a general insurance company in November 2016. Acko is currently directing its endeavors to strengthen the team, set-up robust tech processes, and forge alliances to formulate and customize products as per the need of the customers. It aims to unbundle insurance in India to make it both more affordable and relevant to consumers of today.

Founded by Varun Dua, who is the erstwhile founder of Coverfox, Acko has recently raised the largest amount of seed round of $30 mn. The investment is backed by Narayan Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures, Venk Krishnan and Subba Rao of NuVentures, Kris Gopalakrishnan - Co-founder Infosys, Hemendra Kothari of DSP Blackrock, Atul Nishar – Founder & Chairman of Hexaware Technologies, Rajeev Gupta, veteran investment banker and Founder of Arpwood Capital, Accel and SAIF Partners. The venture is already garnering active interest from the insurtech sector.

Confirming the development, Varun Dua, Founder, Acko General Insurance said, “We are happy to have received the final license from IRDA within a year of filing the application, we are now ready to operate in the general insurance space, we will initially start with four branches. We are looking to start operations by December 2017, by selling multiple products through online channel. Our team has mapped a huge opportunity to tap into online general insurance segment which is estimated to be over $10 billion annually, this has helped us to take a plunge as an insuretech that is completely digital in the general insurance space without the traditional set-up of the brick and mortar format. Our focus would be to make insurance affordable and relevant to our customers with less frills and more value to suit their needs. While demographics and mindset play a major part in the purchase decision, we are looking at the younger audience within the age bracket of 25 – 45 years, who are net savvy, own a smartphone or a device with an internet connection, have a genuine need for buying some kind of insurance product and are at ease while doing transactions online.”

Acko will operate as an independent general insurance company with its entire operations offered through the digital platform. It will create products and deliver opportunities in areas where there are gaps such as personalized insurance products based on user consumption behaviours, be it in terms of premium amounts or recommendations for a mix of products that are best suited for their requirement, and will handhold them during the difficult claims process.

Acko Receives Final Licence from IRDA to Start Operations in India by Late 2017

Acko, India’s first online General Insurance Company today announced that it has received the final clearance from Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA), enabling the company to commence general insurance business in India. The company had filed the application for the licence with IRDA to set up a general insurance company in November 2016. Acko is currently directing its endeavors to strengthen the team, set-up robust tech processes, and forge alliances to formulate and customize products as per the need of the customers. It aims to unbundle insurance in India to make it both more affordable and relevant to consumers of today.

Founded by Varun Dua, who is the erstwhile founder of Coverfox, Acko has recently raised the largest amount of seed round of $30 mn. The investment is backed by Narayan Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures, Venk Krishnan and Subba Rao of NuVentures, Kris Gopalakrishnan - Co-founder Infosys, Hemendra Kothari of DSP Blackrock, Atul Nishar – Founder & Chairman of Hexaware Technologies, Rajeev Gupta, veteran investment banker and Founder of Arpwood Capital, Accel and SAIF Partners. The venture is already garnering active interest from the insurtech sector.

Confirming the development, Varun Dua, Founder, Acko General Insurance said, “We are happy to have received the final license from IRDA within a year of filing the application, we are now ready to operate in the general insurance space, we will initially start with four branches. We are looking to start operations by December 2017, by selling multiple products through online channel. Our team has mapped a huge opportunity to tap into online general insurance segment which is estimated to be over $10 billion annually, this has helped us to take a plunge as an insuretech that is completely digital in the general insurance space without the traditional set-up of the brick and mortar format. Our focus would be to make insurance affordable and relevant to our customers with less frills and more value to suit their needs. While demographics and mindset play a major part in the purchase decision, we are looking at the younger audience within the age bracket of 25 – 45 years, who are net savvy, own a smartphone or a device with an internet connection, have a genuine need for buying some kind of insurance product and are at ease while doing transactions online.”

Acko will operate as an independent general insurance company with its entire operations offered through the digital platform. It will create products and deliver opportunities in areas where there are gaps such as personalized insurance products based on user consumption behaviours, be it in terms of premium amounts or recommendations for a mix of products that are best suited for their requirement, and will handhold them during the difficult claims process.