On Wednesday, the startup in Indonesia Qoala said it had secured $47 million in a new round co-led by PayPal Ventures and MassMutual Ventures.
The five-year-old startup offers personal insurance plans that cover a range of risks, such as ticket cancellations, phone screen damage, and accidents.
Qoala Raises $47 Million With PayPal
Qoala has now raised over $130 million in total funding since its founding with the participation of MUFG Innovation Partners, Omidyar Network, and returning investors Flourish Ventures, Eurazeo, and AppWorks in the Series C fundraising.
With its headquarters in Jakarta, Qoala is an insurance broker that collaborates with leading regional insurers and e-commerce companies to provide clients with individualized and reasonably priced products.
It offers insurance for vehicles, motorbikes, property, travel, health, and personal accidents via its website, app, and in-person interactions.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populated nation, has a low insurance penetration rate. The Indonesian Financial Services Authority reported that the country's insurance penetration rate is less than 4%, less than the global average.
This low penetration can be attributed to numerous causes, such as low disposable income among the population, limited awareness of insurance products, and a lack of trust in insurance providers.
The Insurance Development Institute added that many small firms are in Indonesia's highly fragmented insurance market, which increases competition, reduces profit margins, and jeopardizes the sector's ability to grow and penetrate the market.
The startup uses machine learning to detect fraud and streamlines the claims process through image uploads. It also depends on a network of over 60,000 human workers, which it refers to as "agents" or marketers, to sell insurance.
Furthermore, this benefits customers and insurers by increasing access to practical and affordable insurance solutions.
The firm reached 45,000 new customers the previous year and handled over 115,000 claims. With support from Peak XV, Qoala operates in Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam in addition to its home market of Indonesia.
Although it did not provide exact figures, Qoala disclosed that its gross written premiums had increased by 2.5 times since 2022 and that the firm now internally manages up to 60% of all claims.
CEO of Qoala Shows Confidence in New Funding
Harshet Lunani, co-founder and CEO of Qoala, stated that the fresh funding "demonstrates market confidence" in the company's approach. "Our mission to democratize insurance remains steadfast, and with this new infusion of funds, we are better equipped than ever to drive innovation and impact lives and livelihoods," he added in an earlier statement.
With the additional funding, Qoala intends to investigate strategic alliances and acquisitions and integrate AI throughout its channels.
Alexandros Bottenbruch, Principal at PayPal Ventures, said that it is commendable to see what Qoala has achieved in a short period. He added that Qoala is providing consumers across Southeast Asia with much-needed tools to address the persistent protection gap by positioning itself as the solution of choice for both consumer-facing platforms and traditional agents.
Indonesia is no stranger to PayPal Ventures. In 2020, it also supported Gojek.
