Southeast Asian insurtech Igloo has promoted Raunak Mehta to co-founder and CEO, from chief commercial officer.
Mehta, who joined Igloo in 2018, has previously held leadership roles at large Asian e-commerce players Flipkart and Zalora, the Singapore-based insurtech said in a press release Thursday.
In his time at Igloo, Mehta has led the entry into the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia, and has set up partnerships with regional online giants including Lazada, Shopee, Bukalapak, RedDoorz, foodpanda and Lotte Finance, the release said.
Former CEO to Remain on Board
Mehta will work alongside co-founder Wei Zhu, who will remain on the board of directors, the release said. Wei Zhu was previously Igloo’s CEO; before founding Igloo, he was superapp Grab’s chief technology officer.
In the statement, Wei Zhu said: «With his diverse knowledge across industries and experienced leadership, Raunak will play an instrumental role as Igloo continues to scale. I’m confident we are in a strong position to be the leading regional insurtech under Raunak’s leadership. I’m delighted to continue to play a part in Igloo’s growth and evolution as part of its board.»
In the same announcement, Igloo said it has raised $19 million in series B funding, led by global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation, with participation from ACA and existing investors Openspace Ventures, which is a venture capital firm backed by Singapore’s state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings.
Raising Additional Funds
The series B round brings Igloo’s total fundraising to more than $36 million, the release said.
Igloo said the funding is earmarked for product innovation and for reinforcing its risk assessment and AI-powered claims-assessment tools. The insurtech said it plans to continue targeting the underinsured and low- to mid-income population in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia has a potentially huge market for digital financial services.
Growth in Southeast Asia
Of the around 400 million adults in Southeast Asia, around 198 million are unbanked -- or don’t have a bank account -- while another 98 million are underbanked, with a bank account, but without access to credit, investments and insurance, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2019 report published by Google, Temasek and Bain & Co. in October 2019, prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mehta, Igloo’s new CEO, said the company has seen «tremendous growth» in 2021.
«As the only regional insurtech with a diverse set of products and partners, Igloo will continue on its aggressive growth trajectory for the foreseeable future, looking at both organic and inorganic ways to further drive its vision of ‘Insurance for All’,» Mehta said in the statement. «With the continued backing of our investors, we are well-positioned to expand our operations in countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia, and provide a highly localised offering for each Southeast Asian market.»
The company noted it has also recently launched a new app, called Ignite by Igloo, aimed at agents and direct intermediaries to make the sales process more efficient.
