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How Acko became India’s leading online insurance company

All about Acko

Insurance, no matter what kind, gives us the sense of being safe and secure in life. We all know that insurance protection offers a safe financial option against a potentially unpleasant future. You might have heard the disclaimer that says “insurance is a subject matter of solicitation”. You can see it repeatedly flashing during the TV advertisements. This disclaimer tries to tell the clients that regardless of who offered it, the onus of purchasing an insurance strategy lies entirely with them. It is always important to approach a trustworthy agent when planning to purchase insurance. If you like the convenience of enjoying insurance products over the internet, Acko is the best choice for you.

Acko (1) is a Mumbai-based startup that provides insurance products through its digital platform. It gives customised plans for the client after estimating their behaviour information through analytics. Varun Dua established the startup in 2016 as India’s first online insurance provider. At present, it is one of the quickest developing insurance agencies in the nation. In a range of three years, the startup has fired up its insurance business with innovation and given it a sweet makeover. By moving the procedures online, Acko had cleared out a significant part of the administrative work related to it.

Acko
Arjun Dua, the founder of Acko

Acko has also made sure that their insurance products are always of a high standard. Within a span of  4 years, the company offered plans to more than 50 million clients. The team members of the startup are continually striving to make insurance readily available. This group had developed from a little cluster of 6 when they began, to a tribe of around 400 at this point. Furthermore, this diverse family consists of diverse groups like coders with a driving passion and financial experts with excellent skills in their areas.

The road not taken

Acko has adopted an entirely different path when it comes to their business and strategies. As a divergence from the conventional method of selling insurance, Acko carries out all their procedures online.  This allows for direct selling over the internet and collaborating with other online businesses. For example, their partnership with Amazon helped to create suiting items for their clients and better growth for the company. With the help of Acko, clients can purchase vehicle or bicycle protection on Amazon Pay with zero administrative work.

Since the procedures are through the internet, you can buy the vehicle insurance plans inside a couple of hours. Furthermore, you get a one-hour collection and three-day guaranteed claims services for vehicles. Acko is the leading insurance agency in the nation that does not have huge corporate enterprises or aggregates as its advertisers. Acko’s innovative and creative way of working has attracted many investors too. The four-year-old company has about 203 million dollars as funding from various enterprises. Some of them are Accel, Munich Re Ventures, RPS Ventures, Intact Ventures, Amazon Binny Bansal, SAIF Partners etc.

The seed round in May 2017 was able to raise 30 million dollars mainly from Kris Gopalakrishnan and N.R.Narayana Murthy. They also conducted several series of investments over the years, the last of which raised 60 million dollars. Though all their operations are online, the Coronavirus episode has substantially affected Acko’s business. For the June quarter (Q1), its gross composed premium decreased 16 per cent year-on-year to Rs 56.2 crore. Although the growth was falling due to Covid-19, the organisation has had the option to recuperate through certain areas like health. Acko has started selling corporate health protection and will likewise be gliding into retail medical coverage very soon.

Partnerships and awards

Acko has always been able to enter into brilliant strategic partnerships. Over the years, they have joined forces with probably the best organisations in the world of technology. Some of these partners are Ola, redBus, Amazon and OYO etc. With these organisations, Acko has initiated plans like travel protection, gadgets insurance and hotel stay protection. The startup has cooperated with Amazon India to give mobile protection plans on its website. They also teamed up with HDB Financial Services and offered HDBFS clients protection plans at no extra expense with EMI schemes. In July 2020, Amazon Pay got together with Acko to give its clients a vehicle accident protection program.

These small-scale insurance products have gotten a lot of adoration from the clients. The combined effect of their authenticity and creativity has also won them many awards. One of their micro protection plans is Ola Trip Insurance, which guarantees the safety of taxi travellers. It is usable in around 110 cities all over the country. This product achieved the Golden Peacock Innovative Product award a year ago. In the same year, Monetary Express picked Acko as the champion in their Insurance and Savings classification. They also regularly make it into LinkedIn’s list of Top Startups throughout these years.

Be it valuing, investments, or claims, Acko often stands out with their creativity and technology. They are a determined group moving in the direction of improving each part of insurance. They offer personalised plans, instant strategy, timely case settlements etc. The team is incessantly pushing forward to make insurance plans friendly and simple. Other than the tremendous support from loyal clients, Acko receives encouragement from their partners and investors. The company has funding support from huge enterprises like Amazon, Accel Partners, Catamaran Ventures, SAIF Partners, RPS Ventures, and Mr Binny Bansal.

The future for Acko

Acko plays to keep on staying in the retail insurance business. They aspire to achieve maximum convenience for the customer. The company prefers not to carry on like a conventional insurance agency attempting to start various businesses. Volumes are high in such techniques but so are the misfortunes. Arjun Dua’s vision for Acko is to compose a steady business and give more emphasis to the purchaser. Furthermore, Acko hopes to manufacture more technical plans for the future and will adhere to its digital model.

The company believes that the government will soon release the limitations on FDI. That will open up a ton of chances in the segment and for players like Acko. FDI limitation is a little hindrance, and once it is opened up, they will have the option to get a bigger capital pool. The organisation is also building a team of 50-100 for their future proceedings and is in the recruiting stage.

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