The month started again with investment news from Indian unicorn PolicyBazaar. In July, Softbank invested USD 150 million and PolicyBazaar CEO called it a “mistake”. This month, Google is looking to do the same as part of the company’s India investment strategy. Meanwhile, Tesla has set up its first overseas insurance brokerage in mainland China. Only a month after Elon Musk announced his plans to build a “major insurance company”.
While US companies are entering Asia, Chinese PingAn group keeps pushing into the European market. PingAn’s technology arm, OneConnect has partnered with Swiss Re to co-develop a digital end-to-end solution for motor claims handling for the European market. While OneConnect brings strong artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced data analytics capabilities to the table, Swiss Re has the data and the network to quickly enter the European market.
In Singapore, the Monetary Authority (MAS) is continuing support for fintech and has committed an additional $250 million to invest under the enhanced Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme. It is promising to see that even during the current crises, Singapore keeps pushing innovation forward and establishing itself as a fintech hub in the region.
Singaporean Grab rolls out micro-investments and consumer loans to its users base and is shortlisted for the digital banking license in Singapore. And in Indonesia, Grab’s payment partner OVO claims to be the largest fintech ecosystem in Indonesia. The Lippo-backed startup offers a range of financial services, including peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, investment, insurance, credit scoring, and multi finance.
Other companies mentioned in this episode:
Cover Genius, Igloo, Sightcall, Joonko, Finleap, ByMiles
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