Life is risky and uncertain. We don't know what is waiting for us. One may face an untimely death or lose a limb anytime. Accidents do not appear after knocking on your front door, we just meet with it unexpectedly.
Digit Insurance is a security provider for all the insecurities that may occur in one's life. It has got a range of insurance policies such as Bike Insurance, Commercial Vehicle Policy, Car Insurance Policy, Health and Travel Insurance Policies, and more, which are aimed to get its users covered without any hassles. Read the Digit Insurance success story below, where you will get to know everything about Digit, its Startup Story, Founders and Team, Funding and investors, Challenges, and more.
| Company Name | Digit Insurance |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India |
| Sector | Finance, Financial Services and Insurance |
| Founder | Kamesh Goyal |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Valuation | $4+ Billion (as of May 2022) |
| Revenue | $311.83 mn (Rs 2,324 crore in FY21) |
| Funding | $530.8 mn (2021) |
| Website | godigit.com |
Digit Insurance is a Bengaluru-based general insurance and financial services company. Its mission is to make insurance simple for the common people. Digit General Insurance has come up with numerous insurance plans that can be primarily categorized as:
Previously bread had to be sliced from loaves. It wasn't simpler like today's slices. People find insurance to be like those unsliced loaves. Customers also don't understand which plan is appropriate for whom. The company believes that this thinking can be changed. With this Digit Insurance started making insurance simple with an aim to go back to the basics and simpler transparent insurance solutions. Simple meant no twisted rules. The company needed a simple name and hence it found the name digit to be perfect and appropriate for them.
On the appointment of Jasleen as the new MD and CEO of Digit Insurance, taking over Vijay Kumar, Kamesh Goyal, the Chairman of Digit Insurance, said, “The bold ideas that Vijay brought to the table and the guidance he provided across the board will surely be missed by all our colleagues including me. Jasleen’s agile market strategies and her prudent operational planning have aided the company in expanding its presence at an accelerated pace despite the pandemic. Her people and result-oriented focus will surely put Digit on the path of rapid growth that we have all envisioned.”
Philip Varghese currently serves as the Executive Director of Digit Insurance. Philip started as the Manager of Projects at Allianz after his brief stint at Alpic Finance. He then served as the Senior Manager of Property Underwriting, CIO, and CIO & Head Direct at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. Varghese then joined Bajaj Allianz Life, where he served as a CEO and COO before joining as the Board Member of Allianz Technology. Philip eventually joined Digit Insurance at a very early stage, when he teamed with the founder of Digit.
Vijay Kumar served as the CEO and Principal Officer at Digit Insurance before the job role of MD and CEO was announced to go to Jasleen Kohli, who will be assuming the position effective from April 20, 2022. Starting as the Senior Executive Service & Quality at Kirloskar Pneumatic Company, Vijay Kumar has served in a range of companies in key leadership positions including Maruti Udyog Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd., and Bajaj Allianz, before joining Digit. Vijay Kumar served as the CEO of the organization since Digit was founded in 2017, and his superannuation is dated April 19, 2022.
Vijay Kumar, on his retirement said, “I have had a fulfilling inning at Digit and I’m happy to see this baby grow into a giant player in such a short span of time. I am confident Jasleen will execute Digit's ambitious growth plans with ease and take the company to greater heights in the coming years. As a passionate veteran of this industry, I will keenly keep an eye on Digit as it transforms the insurance space through its tech capabilities in the coming years.”
Jasleen Kohli has been appointed as the MD and CEO of Digit Insurance, effective from April 20, 2022. Kohli has previously worked as the Chief Distribution Officer (CDO), who has been working with Digit since the inception of the company, better known as the first employee of the company. As part of her responsibilities as the CDO of Digit, Jasleen had to oversee all the sales and distribution channels of Digit. Kohli is brimming with experience too, with around 19 years of experience in the life and general insurance industry. Allianz Technology was the last company that Kohli worked with as a Director before she joined Digit. Jasleen Kohli is aged 42 now, and with her latest appointment, she will become one of the youngest CEOs in the insurance industry.
On her appointment announcement as the new MD and CEO of Digit, Jasleen Kohli said, “I am delighted about this new responsibility entrusted in me by the Digit team. While it will be hard to fill Vijay’s experienced shoes, I am excited about this challenge.”
Appointments followed with the announcement of Jasleen Kohli as the MD and CEO. The company also promoted Adarsh Agarwal from the role of Appointed Actuary to Chief Distribution Officer (corporate business). The former position of Adarsh Agarwal has been filed by Nikhil Kamdar, who became the new Appointed Actuary, as per the reports dated April 19, 2022.
Sriram Shankar was another Digit executive, who has been a part of the early leadership team of Digit. Since Shankar left Digit in August 2018, he has served Goodera as a Business head and eventually co-founded Findeed.
Digit Insurance currently works with over 1000 employees.
The Digit Insurance business model works just like the business models that the insurance companies opt for, the only difference is that Digit aims to introduce a range of new products and services to disrupt the Indian general insurance sector. It holds a general insurance license, which allows the company to sell health insurance products. Car and home insurances are common but Digital Insurance provides jewellery and mobile insurances as well. Furthermore, the company is redefining the insurance industry by working digitally. Its business strategy is to create beneficial partnerships with various companies.
Among various other insurance plans, Digit is one of the insurance companies that launched Go Digit Covid insurance. The coronavirus health insurance of the company is similar to a customized health insurance policy, which helps to cover the hospitalization and treatment costs of the Covid-19 infected persons who have previously registered with Digit.
Digit Insurance earns the majority of its revenues from its business line of products that includes its insurance plans and their premiums. The general insurance company extends a wide range of insurance plans for health, motor, and travel. Digit clocked in $400 million in annual premiums when last recorded in October 2021.
Digit Insurance funding has seen it rise to unicorn status in 2021. The company has raised around $530.8 million in funding over the 8 funding rounds that it saw. The latest funding round that Digit witnessed on January 18, 2022, came from Wellington Hadley Harbor and Ithan Creek Master Investors, where the company raised $70 mn.
According to the PR released by Digit Insurance, dated July 2, 2021, the Founder and Chairman of the company, Kamesh Goyal has announced Digit's new fundraising round where the company would raise up to $200 million. The investments of this new round would be led by Sequoia Capital India, IIFL Alternate Asset Managers, and existing investor Faering Capital among others, as per the updates. This round made the total capital infused into the company $442M and is believed to be one of the biggest funding rounds in the history of the Indian insurance industry. With this fundraising round, Digit Insurance was valued at $3.5B.
Digit Insurance's last fundraise of $200 million was yet to be filed by the Ministry of Corporate when the company again raised an amount of ($16.30 mn)Rs 121 crores in a round led by TVS Growth Fund and other high net worth individuals, according to the reports dated August 26, 2021. To raise the sum, Digit has reportedly passed a special resolution of allotting a total of 38,47,427 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 314 per share, according to the recent regulatory fillings.
The current valuation of the company is estimated at $3.54 bn, as of January 2022.
| Date | Transaction Name | Money Raised | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 18, 2022 | Venture Round | $70 million | Wellington Hadley Harbor and Ithan Creek Master Investors. |
| August 26, 2021 | Venture Round | $16.09 million | TVS Capital Funds |
| July 2, 2021 | Venture Round | $200 million | Sequoia Capital India, IIFL Alternate Asset Managers, Faering Capital and more |
| January 16, 2021 | Venture Round | $18.77 million | A91 Partners, TVS Capital, Faering Capital |
| January 21, 2020 | Venture Round | $84 million | A91 Partners, Faering Capital, TVS Capital Funds |
| June 5, 2019 | Venture Round | $50 million | Fairfax Financial Holdings |
| July 3, 2018 | Venture Round | $45 million | Fairfax Financial Holdings |
| June 1, 2017 | Venture Round | $47 million | Fairfax Financial Holdings |
Digit Insurance is funded by 4 lead investors. IIFL Asset Management and Faering Capital are the most recent investors of the firm.
The Virat Kohli-backed startup, which is also backed by the Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa's Fairfax Group, has considered raising $500 mn in an initial public offering at a valuation between $4.5 - 5 billion. Morgan Stanley and ICICI Securities are the book runners. The drafting documents will likely be presented to the market regulator by September and the company is looking to list by January 2023, as per the sources on request for anonymity. These sources also claimed that Digit Insurance will be looking forward to raise around Rs 4000 crore in IPO.
Digit Insurance grew by 31.9%, earning a premium of $186 million (April’20 - Dec’20), and claimed to have more than 1.5 crore customers since inception. After completing the latest funding round of July 2021, where the company has decided to raise $200 million, Digit Insurance disclosed that it raised a total of $442 million.
In 2020, the company expanded its business by 30%. Two major products helped the company drive growth. One is Covid health insurance and the other one is fire insurance. The company witnessed strong growth in terms of its premium collection due to the above-mentioned factors. The company has registered a considerable growth in its gross written premiums ever since it was founded, which was recorded at Rs 5268 crore in the financial year 2021-2022.
Reports say that the vehicle insurance sector is lacking growth but in 2021 things are going to turn normal and the vehicle insurance sector would also experience growth like the other sectors. Though the industry suffered a lot due to the Covid-19 situation, which made people witness a massive drop in the interest rates, the fear in people's minds made them buy Covid health insurance and help insurance businesses grow more than what was estimated.
The coronavirus pandemic has had its repercussions echoing on most of the major industries including the insurance sector, which saw a growth of only 5% last year. Digit Insurance, however, has exhibited a promising growth of 44% despite the pandemic woes.
Digit Insurance became the 1st Indian Startup in 2021 to join the Unicorn Club, following its latest undisclosed investment round.
It also launched a novel COVID-19 product, a Fixed benefit cover for COVID-19. They have been able to reach out to over 20 lakh Indian lives through their Digit Group Illness Insurance product.
Digit Insurance has already achieved a wide array of milestones. Here are some of the popular growth highlights of the company:
Digit Insurance's consolidated revenue from operations surged by more than 56% to become Rs 1943 during FY21, which took the total consolidated revenue of the company to Rs 2324 crore during the same fiscal. Digit also witnessed a sharp rise in its expenses, which rose to become Rs 2358 crore during FY21, and was Rs 1619 crore in FY20.
The net loss of Digit, however, reduced from Rs 193 crore in FY20 to become Rs 58.67 crore in FY21, thereby making the Digit company inch closer to profitability.
Some of the prominent awards and achievements that Digit insurance achieved throughout the years are:
The top competitors of the company are Acko, Coverfox, and PolicyBazaar.
Mr Vivek Chaturvedi, CMO, said,
“We are once again honoured and delighted to receive this prestigious award title of being the General Insurance Company of the Year. At Digit, our constant endeavour is to deliver the best customer experience with products that really matter to our customers. And this recognition is a validation that we are on the right path of simplicity!”
The company from 2019 to 2020 has witnessed an 87% of growth in premiums. It has earned massive trust from the customers and is looking forward to a good customer base along with the 1.4 crores of existing customers.
Digit Insurance is currently eyeing to cross the Rs 6,500 crore-mark in its premia sales when it will be completing its 5 years of operation in October 2022.
Kamesh Goyal is the Founder of Digit Insurance as well as its chairman.
Digit Insurance covers insurance policies such as Bike Insurance, Car Insurance Policy, Health and Travel Insurance Policies, Property Insurance, Shop Insurance, Fire Insurance, and many more. It also covers COVID-related insurances.
In January of 2021, Digit Insurance raised its valuation to $1.9 Billion, making it the first Unicorn of 2021 in India. The Digit Insurance net worth is currently $3.54 bn.
Jasleen Kohli has been appointed as the new Digit Insurance CEO and MD on April 19, 2022, effective from April 20, 2022, and has taken over the position from Vijay Kumar.
The popular Indian cricket team skipper, Virat Kohli has funded Digit. Virat Kohli has invested Rs 2 crore in the insurance startup while his wife, Anushka Sharma has invested Rs 50 lakhs in the firm around the same time.
