business

PolicyStreet.com raises RM25mil in Series A funding

KUALA LUMPUR: PolicyStreet.com, a Southeast Asia-based insurance technology (insurtech) startup, has completed its Series A fundraising round totalling RM25 million over two tranches.

The latest round is led by Altara Ventures, Auspac Ventures, Gobi Partners and the Leong family of Mah Sing Group led by business magnate Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum.

PolicyStreet.com raised an earlier round via PitchIN, KK Fund and Spiral Ventures during the height of the Covid-19 crisis in June last year, the largest amount raised from an equity crowd funding platform in Malaysia.

The announcement of today's Series A round also coincided with PolicyStreet.com securing in-principle approval for a combined reinsurance and general insurance licence from the Labuan Financial Services Authority.

It is the second insurtech to be granted the coveted insurance licence.

The license would allow PolicyStreet.com to underwrite reinsurance and general risks as it looked to expand its strategic partnerships and footprint in the region, the insuretech said in a statement.

Founded in January 2017 by former banking and insurance professionals Yen Ming Lee, Wilson Beh and Winnie Chua, PolicyStreet.com has changed the way insurance is marketed and sold, by making insurance simple, easy and affordable.

In 2019, it was the only local insurtech that received the financial adviser and Islamic financial adviser approval from Bank Negara Malaysia.

This enables it to work with 40 insurance and takaful providers in sourcing, aggregating, customising and advising customers on the best insurance products that meets their needs.

The latest funding round follows a series of strategic partnerships PolicyStreet.com announced recently.

This included with airasia money in providing digital car insurance to all airasia Super App customers, foodpanda in insuring all foodpanda's delivery partners, and myTukar, a pre-owned car buying and selling platform under the Carro Group of companies.

"We are truly proud to have Altara, Auspac, Gobi and the Leong family's belief in our vision. We are excited to introduce new sachet-based and on-demand insurance products with our new license to power up the digital ecosystem, while continuing to provide value to all our existing customers in Southeast Asia,' Yen said.

Dave Ng, general partner at Altara Ventures, said it believed in the potential of embedded digital insurance platforms to flip the existing model, and put customers in the centre.

Auspac Investment chief executive officer Allen Cheong said the firm was impressed with how the management team of PolicyStreet.com had scaled up its market presence in Malaysia within the last few years.

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