Private equity major True North (formerly India Value Fund) and venture capital firm IDG Ventures India are reportedly in advanced discussions to invest $20 million (Rs 128 crore) in ETechAces Marketing and Consulting Pvt. Ltd, the parent of online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar.
The investment is part of a $78 million (Rs 500 crore) round led by Boston-based asset management giant Wellington Management, The Economic Times reported.
True North told the newspaper that it will be investing around $15 million in the round. The other $5 million is likely to come from IDG Ventures, the report added citing an unnamed person in the know.
Messages sent by VCCircle to PolicyBazaar and IDG Ventures did not elicit an immediate response.
PolicyBazaar is looking to rope in more domestic investors to meet the 51% domestic investment criterion of regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.
In March, reports said the insurance aggregator was close to raising a pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) funding round worth around $50 million (around Rs 327 crore).
In September last year, the company was reported to be getting ready for a $100-million IPO in the US by the end of 2018. If its listing plans go through, it will join Indian Internet companies MakeMyTrip and JustDial on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
In April last year, PolicyBazaar raised around $40 million in Series D funding from PremjiInvest, the personal investment vehicle of Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Tiger Global, and other investors.
In May 2014, the company raised $20 million in Series C funding from Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital. Prior to that, it had secured $5 million in a round led by Inventus Capital Partners.
Steadview Capital and ABG Capital are among the other investors in the company. Info Edge (India) Ltd, the parent of job portal Naukri.com, also owns a stake.
PolicyBazaar was founded in 2008 by Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal.
Its FY15-16 revenues grew 29% year on year to Rs 109.5 crore while losses widened to Rs 110 crore from Rs 65 crore. The company is yet to file its FY16-17 financials.
PolicyBazaar expects to post revenues of around Rs 210 crore for the current financial year, chief executive Dahiya has said.
