Plum Benefits Pvt. Ltd, which operates an eponymous insurance startup that helps companies set up group programmes, has raised slightly over Rs 30 crore (approximately $4.04 million) in funding, according to a report.
The Bengaluru-based company has raised this capital in an exercise led by Surge, the accelerator and early-stage investment programme of marquee venture capital firm Sequoia, Entrackr reported.
Other participants include IF India Partnership, Tanglin Ventures, AngelList and some angel investors, the report said, citing regulatory filings.
While Surge is investing Rs 16.65 crore, Tanglin is committing Rs 11.8 crore. This values the startup at nearly Rs 140 crore, per the report.
This development comes after Plum in July raised Rs 7 crore in seed funding from Incubate Fund, with participation from Gemba Capital and Tracxn Labs. Angel investors had also taken part in that round.
VCCircle has reached out to Plum on the details of this fundraise and will update this report accordingly.
Plum was set up last year by Abhishek Poddar and Saurabh Arora. Poddar, an alumnus of Stanford University, has worked with companies including Google and McKinsey. Arora has worked with Freshworks and has also set up customer relationship management company Airwoot, which was acquired by California-based Freshworks.
According to its website, the company helps set up group insurance and employee health benefits programmes. It says its platform removes the need for negotiations with brokers and agents, along with receiving transparent pricing and customising insurance benefits according to clients’ needs.
Plum says it has worked with companies including Rheo, Finly, Instawork, Skillate, Fampay, and Twilio.
The reported investment in Plum also highlights the continued interest in the insurance-tech segment in the country. Factors that have contributed to this trend include low insurance coverage and technology-backed underwriting processes.
Earlier this month, Fedo Health Technologies Pvt Ltd raised $1 million (about Rs 7.43 crore) in a pre-Series A funding round that was led by Unicorn India Ventures. Other participants included SEA Fund and former Max Bupa managing director and CEO Ashish Mehrotra.
In September, Acko Technology & Services Pvt Ltd raised $60 million in a round led by Munich Re Ventures, the venture capital arm of Germany-based reinsurance company Munich Re Group. The investment marked the San Francisco-based Munich Re Ventures’ first Indian bet.
In May, the Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund led a pre-Series A round in UMBO InsurDataTech Systems Pvt. Ltd, which operates insurance-technology startup Riskcovry. The company says it is a ‘neo-insurer’ that provides businesses with large captive user bases ‘insurance-in-a-box’ solutions.