Acko General Insurance has received in-principle regulatory clearance to launch a general insurance business in India. The company has received the initial R1 licence and has filed for the second-stage R2 licence with the IRDAI.

Acko, set up by Coverfox co-founder Varun Dua, has also raised US$30 million in seed finance, in one of the largest seed rounds for a startup in India. Coverfox is an online insurance brokerage.

Acko will operate as an independent general insurance company with its entire operations offered through the digital platform. It will create products and deliver opportunities in areas where there are gaps such as personalised insurance products based on user consumption behaviour.

The company is backed by names like Narayan Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures; Venk Krishnan and Subba Rao of NuVentures; Kris Gopalakrishnan, the cofounder of Infosys; Hemendra Kothari of DSP Blackrock; Atul Nishar, the founder and Chairman of Hexaware Technologies; Rajeev Gupta, the founder of Arpwood Capital; Accel and SAIF Partners.

Mr Dua said: “With Acko, we want to make insurance so straightforward that consumers don’t need to talk to multiple people to get advice or fill up forms. Consumers should be able to access low prices in one click based on their risk profile, and be confident that at a press of a button -- their claim will get paid in the fastest possible time. In today’s connected world, we believe it can reach a point that the customer should get his claim without him even lodging it. Connectivity can make it possible and the ecosystem today exists to make it happen.” 

Only 3% of insurance is bought online currently in India in an overall $80-billion market but is likely to grow rapidly keeping in mind the young demographic accessing services online.