Sequoia-backed Insurtech Startup Qoala Pockets USD13.5 Mn In Series A Round The Jakarta-based company aims to use the funds to invest further into technology, people and brand to fuel their multi-channel strategy.

Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala has raised USD 13.5 mn in series A funding round led by Centauri Fund, a joint venture between funds from South Korea's Kookmin Bank and telecommunications conglomerate Telkom Indonesia.

Other new investors in the Series A round included Sequoia India, Flourish Ventures, Kookmin Bank Investments, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Mirae Asset Sekuritas along with participation from existing investors, Mass Mutual Ventures Southeast Asia, MDI Ventures, Surge, Seed Plus and Central Capital Ventur, which is backed by Bank Central Asia.

Founded in 2018 by Oxford University and UCL graduates Harshet Lunani and Tommy Martin, Qoala provides multi-channel insurance solutions to insurers and partner insurance companies alike. It leverages machine learning (ML) to speedily process photo-based claims, which the company claims takes only one day, involving a completely paperless, digital process, while helping insurers reduce costs and risk through digital fraud detection.

Along with digitising insurers, it also helps digitise insurance intermediaries supporting their need to be more efficient and improve customer experience. Qoala also works with large scale platform partners to drive awareness about insurance with consumers due to low penetration of insurance in Indonesia.

The Jakarta-based company claims to process over 2 million policies per month, up from 7,000 policies in March 2019.

It has partnered with several prominent brands in five core industries—travel, fintech, consumables, logistics, and employee benefits—across Indonesia, including Grabkois, JD.ID, Shopee and Tokopedia. They are supported by over 20 insurer partners globally, such as AXA Mandiri, Tokio Marine, Great Eastern along with local insurers like ACA, Adira and BRI Life.

With the fresh funding, Qoala aims to invest in its technology further, hire more people over the next year and build its brand to better serve their customers, platform partners and insurers.

"During the present crisis we are seeing an increased demand for innovative and scalable services to support the industry as physical contact restrictions are impacting traditional offline sales of insurance," co-founder Martin said in a statement.

"We have also accelerated our new COVID offerings for consumers and MSMEs across Indonesia to provide pay-outs to those affected by the pandemic, including those who have had their treatment partially or fully subsidized by the government and are hence ineligible per usual insurance plans. We will roll this out on a larger scale within the next 4 weeks."