PolicyBazaar’s parent group ETechAces raises $152 million in series F funding round.

Key Highlights

ETechAces has raised about $152 million in the series F funding round which was led by Japanese SoftBank Vision fund which is the world’s largest investor in technology.

The funding round also saw participation from notable firms such as Infoedge, Truth North, a private equity fund and Startup Holding.

After this investment, the valuation of the company would be $950.76 which is just a few million short of acquiring the coveted ‘unicorn’ status

ETechAces which is the parent company of both PolicyBazzar and PaisaBazzar, has raised about $152 million in the series F funding round which was led by Japanese SoftBank Vision fund which is the world’s largest investor in technology. This deal has catapulted EtechAces into the elusive Unicorn club which consists of companies wholes valuation is $ 1 Billion and above.

Soft bank and ETechAces have reportedly been in talks for about six months. After which this deal was finalized. Softbank will now own 15% of the stake in EtechAces having invested a whopping $150 million in the firm.

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The funding round also saw participation from notable firms such as InfoEdge, Truth North, a private equity fund and Startup Holding. SVF India Holdings Limited (Softbank), which is a subsidy of SoftBank Vision fund has invested $68 million in EtechAces. They have brought about 10,371 series F CCCPS shares as well as 5 equity shares which are priced at ₹4, 56,345 per share

Also,InfoEdge has invested about $59.3 million in the company, having brought 9,059 Series F CCCPS and 4 Equity shares. InfoEdge is also negotiating with Premjiinvest, the PI arm of AzimPremji, Wipro’s chairman. They seek to acquire Premjiinvest’s stake for $32 million.

True North has poured in $24.74 million worth of investment and has brought 3,775 CCCPS shares and 1 Equity share.

Other investors in EtechAches also include Tiger Global Management, a New York-based investment company, Wipro’s Premjiinvest, Investus Capital Partners and Chiratae Ventures.  

Before this investment, the company was valued at $500 million and saw a ₹500 crore investment in October from Wellington management, IDG Ventures India and True North.

However, after this investment, the valuation of the company would be $950.76 which is just a few million short of acquiring the coveted ‘unicorn’ status. It was announced that the remaining $84-86 million is on its way. The remaining $84-86million is reportedly going to come from the residual investment from SVF.

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YashishDahiya, the CEO of ETechAches said that even though many companies were interested in leading the series F round, they were hoping to get SoftBank aboard as they believed Softbank has the depth of knowledge and experience that cannot be rivaled. Apart from EtechAces, Softbank through its vision fund has also invested in Paytm, Flipkart and OYO. MunishVarma who is a partner at SoftBank stated that they believe that the insurance market in India is still severely underdeveloped. They believe that PolicyBazaar coupled with SoftBank’s investment and ecosystem would help increase the demand and sale of insurance products in India.

EtechAces is also preparing for an initial public offering in 3 months. However, according to the CEO, ETechAces is making a lot of profit and capital will not be the primary reason for the company going public.  ETechAces has reportedly churned out revenue of ₹213 crore in the 2016-17 year and made about ₹334 crore in 2017-18. The company is also looking to make acquisitions and has set aside ₹ 500 crore for the same.  

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