The Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala has notched Series A funding worth USD 13.5 million, led by Centauri Fund, a joint venture between South Korean KB Financial Group and PT Telkom Indonesia, the company announced on Tuesday.
The new investors Sequoia India, Flourish Ventures, Kookmin Bank Investments, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, and Mirae Asset Sekuritas joined the round, in which the existing investors MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, MDI Ventures, Surge, SeedPlus, and Bank Central Asia’s Central Capital Ventura participated as well.
With the new funding, the company aims to invest into technology, people, and brands, to fuel the platform’s multi-channel strategy. Tommy Martin, co-founder of Qoala said the management sees an increased demand for innovative and scalable services to support the industry, as restrictions of physical contact have impacted traditional offline sales of insurance.
“We have accelerated our new COVID-19 offerings for consumers and MSMEs across Indonesia to provide pay-outs to those affected by the pandemic, including those who have had their treatment partially or fully subsidized by the government and are hence ineligible per usual insurance plans. We will roll this out on a larger scale within the next 4 weeks,” Martin said in a press statement.
Kenneth Li, managing partner at Centauri Fund, said that he is convinced of the company’s multi-channel approach within Indonesia’s untapped insurance industry.
“Qoala is a prime example of our thesis on the sector, which is why we decided to lead the Series A round through the Centauri Fund as the fund’s first investment,” Li said.
Founded in 2018, Qoala was established by Harshet Lunani and Tommy Martin. It has processed over 2 million policies per month, up from 7,000 policies in March 2019, and diversified to serve five industries—travel, fintech, consumables, logistics, and employee benefits.
Opportunities in Indonesia
In Indonesia, the company works with large-scale platform partners to create awareness with consumers, due to a low penetration of insurance in the country. It is also supporting traditional offline insurance channels through Qoala’s app for agents and brokers.
Qoala has collaborated with several Indonesian brands, including GrabKios, JD.ID, Shopee, and Tokopedia. Customers also come from digital platforms such as Investree, PegiPegi, and RedBus.