Amazon takes front row seat in $12M investment in Acko Start-up

Amazon looks to be resuming its funding exertions in India with the confirmation from Acko, an Indian digital insurance start-up, that the company played a lead role in the latest round of funding for the start-up.

 There has been news making the rounds since the beginning of the year linking Amazon to Acko investments. This has been confirmed with the recent $12M funding in the start-up together with other backers like Ashish Dhawan and Catamaran Ventures.

This round of funding increases the amount of money raised by the Indian Start up to $42M since its inception. Acko was established towards the end of 2016 by Varun Dua, who happens to have co-founded insurance comparison site Coverfox. Dua, is moving in a different direction with Acko, he aims to disrupt the $10 billion insurance industry in India, by making use of the internet and the increase in its usage to DE monopolize the industry and design exciting new products.

Major funding and High end partners

Acko started off on the right footing with initial investments of about $30M ploughed into the company even before it got its license to provide insurance. A year later and the company is competing with traditional insurance companies in the automobile insurance space and has created its own niche in the internet economy. Its ability to thrive in the internet insurance space is what attracted Amazon to the table.

Acko has been actively seeking partnerships with major players in the internet economy with major focus being on e-commerce giants, travel sites, and ride hailing platforms. The company launched a passenger insurance service for Ola, which is a rival to Uber in India. The insurance package covers minor accidents, and minor causalities like missing your flight that arise as a result of being stuck in traffic. These insurance claims are built directly into the ride hailing app to make the process a lot easier for customers.

In the ca of amazon, the company is looking to leverage on its e-commerce strengths and offer services that would be required in such areas.  This deal with Amazon doesn’t limit Acko’s capability to do business with other e-commerce giants in the country.

Collaborating with regulators

A part of Acko’s business strategy is to introduce digital internet technology to the traditional insurance market, while at the same time coming up with new plans and insurance policies that are relevant in today’s digital world. This requires collaboration with Indian regulators while also avoiding the pitfalls that accompany regular internet start-ups. The challenge here and the need for collaboration with regulators is quite evident as a lot of the ideas and products being introduce have no prior regulation and it important the regulators are carried along in the process.  This important so as to avoid any setback later on after a policy has been introduced.

Dua feels it is important to keep the communication lines open and ensure there is a good rapport between the regulators and Acko.

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亚马逊领投1200万美元于印度数字保险初创公司Acko

亚马逊似乎正在重新启动在印度的投资。印度的数字保险公司Acko近日确认美国零售巨头亚马逊为其领投了新一轮融资。

自今年初以来，亚马逊就一直有传言说要投资Acko，现在它真的已经为Acko带来了1200万美元的资金融资。

Acko由Varun Dua于2016年底成立。通过Acko，Varun Dua正在通过数字化业务深入保险行业，并旨在于在印度颠覆这个价值100亿美元的行业。

印度媒体报道说，Acko曾一直在与Flipkart进行投资谈判，而亚马逊的美国竞争对手沃尔玛已同意收购Flipkart的大部分股份。但Varun Dua拒绝就此传言发表任何评论。

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