PolicyBazaar bags $45 million in secondary share sale ahead of IPO

PolicyBazaar is the largest online insurance policy aggregator in India has executed a secondary share sale of around $45 Million. According to a statement released by the company, private Equity Firm True North and some angel and individual investors sold their stake company according to a statement released by the company.

Expecting a valuation worth $3.5 Billion, Policy Bazar is going to go public soon. Earlier, Zomato had also shared its interest in going public later this year. Bay Capital, White Oak Global Advisors, IIFL Wealth, and Cyrus Poonawalla Group have emerged as top incoming investors for the company.

Earlier, Policy Bazar had a secondary deal as well where for about $20 Million with True North in November last year. It was during that time that Alpha Wave Incubation, owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, came on board through a mix of secondary and primary capital. SoftBank Vision Fund had earlier also invested in the company buying a stake from the old investors.

Info Edge (India), PremjiInvst Temasek Holdings, Steadview Capital, Chiratae Ventures, and Wellington Management are some of the other key investors in PolicyBazar holding a significant stake.

In a race of bagging the IPO mandate for the company, investment banks including Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. Ltd., ICIC Securities Ltd., Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup Capital Markets are going head-on.

Earlier in November last year, Yashish Dahiya had commented that the company was exploring other locations to expand its operations, including United Arab Emirates (UAE). He shared in a statement that,’ We are keen on international expansion, and homegrown Indian companies must test international areas as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). It’s great our companies get to a stage where they can help customers abroad….”

According to another statement by Dahiya, PolicyBazar is aiming for Rs 1,100 crore revenue posting a marginal profit in the financial year 2020-21.

PolicyBazar was founded in 2008 by Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar that also operates a digital money lending marketplace, PaisaBazaar. With the claims of conducting one million transactions per month, it covers nearly a quarter of India’s life cover.