Insurtech Igloo raises $27m to expand lead across SE Asia

Regional insurtech Igloo has announced that it raised $27 million in Series B funding and intends to use the investment to strengthen its lead across key markets in Southeast Asia.

This round of investment comprises a consortium of impact investors including BlueOrchard, Women’s World Banking Asset Management (WAM) and Finnfund. The InsuResilience Investment Fund II, initiated by German development bank KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and development (BMZ) and managed by impact investor BlueOrchard Finance Ltd, led the extension round, along with WAM, Finnfund, La Maison, and Series B lead investor, Cathy Innovation.

Investments from the extension round increased to $46 million the total investment raised from series B. Igloo first raised $19 million when the funding round started in March led by Cathay Innovation together with ACA and other existing investors including OpenSpace.

“With its expertise, capabilities and technology to develop products and solutions that directly benefit our target groups, Igloo is well positioned to advance our mission to protect vulnerable communities from the consequences of climate change by strengthening their resilience”, said Mahesh Joshi, Head of Private Equity Investments Asia at BlueOrchard.

Joshi said they see a profitable, sustainable, and socially conscious business model that they are very happy to back.

Rajat Arora, head of Asia at WWB Asset Management, said women are a major contributor to the economic activity in Southeast Asia and Igloo’s technology-led impactful model plays a critical role in securing their financial resilience by making insurance accessible to the most vulnerable and underserved segments.

Arora said they are proud to back a visionary and high-energy team like Igloo that is disrupting the traditional insurance industry and helping it scale to the next stage of growth.

Ulla-Maija Rantapuska, Investment Manager at Finnfund, said their company is devoted to increasing insurance coverage in emerging markets through its investments.

He shared that digital insurance solutions are designed to help break some of the barriers of inclusive insurance. Finnfund, he said, is looking forward to a partnership with Igloo because they share the same goal which is to make insurance accessible and affordable for all.

To date, Igloo, the first full stack insurtech firm to emerge from Singapore, has cemented partnerships with over 55 companies across 7 countries with over 15 products in its expanding product suite. It has facilitated over 300 million policies and increased gross written premiums by 30 times since 2019 and has offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia and tech centres in China and India.

Since its birth, Igloo has been known to make insurance accessible and affordable through data and technology in Southeast Asia and is the only insurtech in the region with all major economies contributing to its performance.

Igloo champions financial inclusion for underserved communities across the region to help build a more sustainable future in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).