Insurance-first “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) start-up Finsall has raised ₹15 crore in a bridge round, led by Unicorn India Ventures and Seafund with additional involvement from other institutional investors.
The company will use the funds raised to set up a non-bank financial company (NBFC) to scale lending operations and deliver more value to customers in insurance premium financing. The funds will also be allocated for tech enhancement to develop intuitive, user-friendly interfaces, which according to Finsall, will provide seamless digital experiences for key stakeholders including insurance companies, brokers, agents and lending partners (Banks and NBFCs). Finsall also aims to utilise the current capital infusion to develop more strategic partnerships with insurers, intermediaries and lenders to broaden service offerings and enhance distribution channels.
Tim Mathews, Co-Founder and CEO at Finsall said, “Building a category is no easy task, especially in the lending and insurance space. We are glad we have a great core team and long-term investors in Unicorn India Ventures and Seafund who believe in the vision that we are building at Finsall. We aim to build on domestic success stories and examine if our products make global sense.”
Growing customer base
By focusing on product development, operational scaling and customer service, the company aims to be well-positioned to disrupt the insurance premium financing industry and build a long-term value proposition in the market.
“Insurance premium financing remains a nascent sector. But in the last two years, especially post Covid, there has been a strong customer acceptance of this model. Insurance providers to the end users are now comfortable with an option to use credit for financing insurance premiums. Given that insurance penetration in the country is still at 1 per cent, the market opportunity is huge and we believe Finsall has built the right momentum to capitalise on this segment,” added Anil Joshi, Managing Partner of Unicorn India Ventures.
CaaS platform
The company saw a 9 times revenue growth over the last two years. For the last FY23-24, Finsall grew at an average m-o-m growth rate of 18 per cent in insurance premiums. Finsall attributed this to their strategic partnerships, growing customer base and reaching new demographics. Today, the company has customers across 8,000 locations in India has seen growth in the non-life insurance segments and has on-boarded multiple insurers. Finsall’s customers include HNIs, gig economy workers, and enterprises. With the launch of its credit-as-a-service (CaaS) platform, among other developments, Finsall anticipates a 4 times increase in revenue in FY25.
Manoj Agarwal, Managing Partner, Seafund, commented, “We have been invested in Finsall from its early days and have seen the first-hand focus of the team on improving the customer retention rates, loan size and tenures and underlying financial asset quality. This has led to a healthy growth. As Finsall onboards more insurance providers and agents, we see the market growing fast for them.”