INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
PolicyBazaar.com records sale of nearly 300,000 transactions a month, ETechAces said in a statement
Online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar has raised more than $200 million (Rs
1,362 crore at $1 = Rs 68.13) in a new round of funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund
ETechAces Marketing Consulting or ETechAces, the owner of insurance comparison portal PolicyBazaar.com, announced funding by a group
including SoftBank Vision Fund and existing investors including Info Edge (India), the parent company of job search portal Naukri.com
SoftBank Vision Fund, the world's biggest private-equity fund, is an investment vehicle of Japan's SoftBank Group."We are very pleased to
welcome Softbank Vision Fund on board as our stakeholder
We hope to gain a lot from their (SoftBank's) global footprint and experience," said Yashish Dahiya, co-founder and group CEO,
EtechAces.ETechAces also owns lending marketplace PaisaBazaar.com.Munish Varma, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: "Over the
last decade, PolicyBazaar has become synonymous with online insurance shopping in India.""We believe that the Indian insurance market
continues to remain massively under-developed and PolicyBazaar, supported by SoftBank's capital and ecosystem, is uniquely positioned to
dramatically increase the adoption of insurance products in the country."Since its inception in 2008, PolicyBazaar has been at the forefront
of establishing online as a 'go-to channel' for consumers to compare insurance products, offering them ease to buy instantly and helping
them make informed decisions, said ETechAces.ETechAces has backing from a host of investors including the likes of Softbank, Temasek, Tiger
Global Management, True North, InfoEdge (Naukri.com), Premji Invest, besides investments from other PE funds and family offices, it
noted.SoftBank Vision Fund has also invested in other Indian companies including cab-hailing firm Ola.PolicyBazaar, which was founded in
2008, said it currently accounts for nearly a quarter of India's life cover, and more than 7 per cent of the retail health
