Ensuredit - Taking Insurance to the masses

Decoding Shorts - 3

Do you know that around 85% of the insurance agents cater to only 15 cities in India? Also, ~98% of the overall gross insurance premiums are still paid through agents and intermediaries. These facts were astounding for us to delve deep into the emergence of new-age AI-powered Insuretech space. One such startup seizing the opportunities through its extensive product offerings is ensuredit. They are bridging the gap between multiple stakeholders across the insurance value chain using extensive AI and ML tools. But how are they different from the likes of Policybazaar and Turtlemint?

As registered agents, Policybazar eliminates traditional brokers from the insurance value chain by selling insurance online. But since a significant sale of insurance is still through the offline channels, Ensuredit empowers traditional agents through its platform.

Ensuredit provides Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for smooth agent onboarding, insurance product comparison, quote generation and payments processing, claims redressal, and dissemination of information to the end-user. Additionally, their extensive AI-based analytics helps these intermediaries in cross-selling, capitalising on network effects, and generating new & innovative streams of revenue. Traditional insurers and brokers can obtain a larger market share through a one-stop, AI-ML integrated platform.

Apart from the entire platform-as-a-service, Ensuredit also provides plug-and-play model for setting up a distribution network, policy renewals, claim assistance, etc. The comprehensive APIs developed by Ensuredit provides risk minimisation from data misuse, fraud detection, misselling of policies etc. Overall, Ensuredit promises more renewals and better recurring revenues, helping traditional brokers scale faster.

But what do they charge the agents and intermediaries using their platform? Revenues are generated by charging an upfront amount to any entity wanting to use its services, along with a certain fixed amount for managing assets. They also charge a percentage fee on every successful policy booked through their platform, which keeps them aligned with the growth of their clients.

According to Invest India, the insurance market is expected to be $250 billion by 2025 and online insurance to be INR 220 billion by 2024. Moreover, the BCG consumer sentiment survey shows that around 88% of people surveyed were willing to purchase insurance from digital channels. Through its niche range of services, Ensuredit is trying to capture this rapidly growing online insurance space.

Co-founded by a strong team of professionals – Amit Boni, Rohit Sadhu and Vikas Ranga, Ensuredit has all the ingredients to become successful. Given the traction it already received from countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, it would be interesting to see how the story unfolds in the days to come. Author - Ashwin Ambala