Softbank-backed India’s leading insurance platform Policybazaar expands to UAE

India’s leading insurance platform Policybazaar has expanded to UAE, launching Policybazaar.ae, last month. They’re taking on the established local players who have been in the market for more than five years, including Souqalmal, YallaCompare and the recently launched (and very well-funded) Aqeed that is backed by Choueiri Group.

The company had raised over $200 million in its most recent funding round led by Softbank in June earlier this year at a valuation of over $1 billion, becoming the member of India’s unicorn club.

Policybazaar UAE, is company’s first overseas venture and allows users to compare different financial products including life insurance, car insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, travel insurance, loans, credit cards and bank accounts from more than ten partners.

Founded in 2008, Policybazaar has come a long way and currently sells 300,000 policies every year, accounting for nearly 25% of India’s life cover and over 7% of retail health business. The company accounts for almost half of all the internet based insurance purchase in India.

Speaking about the expansion to UAE, Policybazaar UAE’s CEO Neeraj Gupta who was previously heading the Motor Insurance for company in India, said, “Presence of a huge Indian diaspora who have prior familiarity with the brand and can potentially emerge as our word of mouth brand ambassador certainly contributed to our decision of identifying UAE as our first international market. The initial business numbers have been very encouraging, and above of what our expectations were.”

Softbank-backed India's leading insurance platform Policybazaar expands to UAE. It is the second Softbank-backed Indian company to expand to UAE in last few monthsClick To Tweet

“However, we are aware that each market is unique and has its own sensibilities that we will need to adopt. We cannot have a one-size fits all approach for all markets and being aware of this fact has allowed us to reach where we are. While the business model will be replicated in the UAE market, the consumers, their requirements and the expectations are different. We are prepared and willing to learn the curves of the local market and adapt accordingly,” he added.

The CEO also said that PolicBazaar.ae will increase the number of products and insurers on the platform in the future. He aims to write Dh50 million premium in the next 12 months and scale it to about Dh200 million.

Policybazaar is the second Softbank-backed Indian company to enter UAE after budget-hotel startup Oyo’s expansion earlier this year that raised $1 billion from Softbank last month.