Source: Entrepreneur
Non-life insurer Digit, backed by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa, has become the first startup unicorn of 2021. This is as per a report by the Economic Times.
Unicorn means a privately held startup company whose valuation is above $1 billion.
The Bengaluru-based general insurer’s latest Rs 135-crore funding round, led by existing private equity investors A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital, has valued the company at $1.9 billion, making it the second insurtech startup after Policybazaar to enter the coveted unicorn club, or those with valuations of over $1 billion.
Last year, 11 startups achieved unicorn status.
The capital infusion was predominantly to shore up its solvency ratio to comply with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (IRDAI) norms, Kamesh Goyal, founder and chief executive.
IRDAI norms stipulate that insurance companies must maintain a minimum solvency ratio of 150% always. “We were doing some nancial modelling and projections for next year and realized that we needed around Rs 150-Rs 200 crore for regulatory solvency capital,” said Goyal.