Indian private equity (PE) player Multiples Asset Management (Multiples PE), founded by Renuka Ramnath, is in advanced talks to ramp up its investment in Acko General Insurance Ltd as the insurance tech startup gears up to raise an ‘internal round’, multiple sources familiar with the development told DealStreetAsia.
An internal round in the PE industry signifies capital being raised by a company from its existing investors.
“Talks have gathered steam and the due diligence process has started,” said one of the persons, adding that if things work out, “it could be a ‘big’ transaction that may require the approval of CCI.”
The CCI, or the Competition Commission of India, is a fair trade regulator whose primary purpose is to regulate competition in the market.
According to media reports, Acko, headquartered in Mumbai, has been on the road to raise a mega funding round that could well be over $100 million, and the company is also in talks with its existing backers General Atlantic and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
“If they come on board, General Atlantic will be the lead investor,” said the source mentioned above. However, the source could not confirm if General Atlantic will participate in the deal.
Separate emails sent to Multiples PE and Acko General Insurance did not elicit any response.
Founded by Coverfox co-founder Varun Dua in 2016, Acko offers general insurance products, including auto and travel insurance. It is also into health insurance. The startup has built a diverse base of partnerships with consumer internet platforms across e-commerce and travel categories, besides auto manufacturers, to expand its customer base.
According to information available on its website, the company claims to have distributed insurance policies to over 50 million unique customers. It has also partnered with a host of consumer internet players including Amazon, Ola, and OYO, to bring contextual insurance products to the market.
Acko, which achieved unicorn status in October 2021 after its Series D round, has so far racked up $458 million in six funding rounds from investors such as Amazon, Accel, Catamaran Ventures, Elevation Capital, Swiss Re Transamerica Ventures, among others, apart from Multiples PE, CPPIB and General Atlantic. It has also roped in seasoned investors like Ashish Dhawan, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Hemendra Kothari, Atul Nishar, Rajeev Gupta, Venk Krishnan, and Subba Rao.
The proposed transaction is significant as it could mark a big-ticket transaction in India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, amidst current macro market volatility.
As many as six startups in India have garnered funding of over $100 million each this year. The total capital amassed by them stands at $1.2 billion, show data from research firm Venture Intelligence.
This week Walmart-backed fintech unicorn PhonePe made headlines for raising $100 million in additional funding from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and TVS Capital Funds, at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion. This comes less than a month after the company raised $350 million in a fresh funding round led by General Atlantic.
In yet another mega-deal closed in February, Gram Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Polaris Smart Metering, which develops, instals, and operates smart metering infrastructure under long-term concessions, raised $100 million from global PE firm I Squared Capital.
Among other prominent deals closed in January, wellness chain VLCC raised $300 million from PE giant Carlyle, while InsuranceDekho raised $150 million in debt and equity funding from Avataar Venture Partners, InvestCorp Group, TVS Capital, Goldman Sachs, and LeapFrog Investments, show Venture Intelligence data.
During the first two months of 2022, meanwhile, 31 companies raised mega fundings worth $8.5 billion.
“Even as the number of mega deals this year is significantly lesser, I would say it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The overall VC funding scenario is expected to be buoyant in the near term as India is currently exhibiting to be the flag bearer of growth amidst overall slowdown in the global market,” Inflexor Ventures, co-founder & partner Pratip Mazumdar told DealStreetAsia.