PayPal supports the Indonesian insurance company (*47*) with USD 47 million

PayPal Ventures’ latest investment is in an Indonesian startup that provides insurance products covering quite a lot of risks, including accidents, phone screen damage and ticket cancellation, to greater than 5 million customers.

(*47*) has secured $47 million in a brand new round led jointly by PayPal Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, the five-year-old startup said Wednesday. MUFG Innovation partners Omidyar Network, in addition to existing backers Flourish Ventures, Eurazeo and AppWorks also participated in the Series C financing, bringing Qoala’s total funding to over $130 million since its inception.

Jakarta-based (*47*) is an insurtech platform that partners with leading local insurers and e-commerce corporations to supply customers personalized and inexpensive products. It sells insurance – covering cars, motorcycles, property, personal accident, travel and health – through its website and app, in addition to through offline contacts.

Despite being the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia has a comparatively low insurance penetration rate. According to the Indonesian Financial Services Authority, Indonesia’s insurance penetration rate is below 4%, which is lower than the global average.

This low penetration could be attributed to several aspects, including limited awareness of insurance products, low disposable income amongst a significant slice of the population, and lack of trust in insurance corporations. The Insurance Development Institute further says that the insurance industry in Indonesia is very fragmented with many small players, resulting in increased competition and lower profit margins, posing risks to the sector’s growth and penetration.

The startup – which also relies on a network of greater than 60,000 employees it calls “agents,” or insurance sales marketers – simplifies the claims process by uploading photos and uses machine learning to detect fraud, benefiting each customers and insurers. expanding access to convenient and cost-effective insurance solutions.

Last yr, it processed greater than 115,000 claims and added 45,000 latest users, says the startup, which serves greater than 5 million customers in total. (*47*), which also counts Peak XV amongst its supporters, operates in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam along with its home market of Indonesia.

(*47*) revealed that its gross written premium has increased 2.5 times since 2022, and the startup now handles as much as 60% of all claims internally, even though it didn’t disclose exact numbers.

(*47*) co-founder and CEO Harshet Lunani said the latest funding “shows the market’s confidence” in the startup’s strategy. “Our mission to democratize insurance remains unwavering, and with this new injection of funding, we are better positioned than ever to drive innovation and impact lives and livelihoods,” he said in a prepared statement.

(*47*) plans to make use of the latest funds to explore strategic acquisitions and partnerships, in addition to to introduce artificial intelligence into its channels.

“It is commendable to see what Qoala has achieved in a short period of time,” Alexandros Bottenbruch, director of PayPal Ventures, said in a press release. “By positioning itself as the solution of choice for both consumer-facing platforms and traditional agents, Qoala provides consumers across Southeast Asia with much-needed tools to address the persistent protection gap.”

PayPal Ventures is not any stranger to Indonesia. She also supported Gojek in 2020.