Serum Institute picks up stake in online insurance unicorn PolicyBazaar

Adar Poonawalla-led vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) has bought a minority stake in the online insurance platform Policybazaar. The investment firm True North (formerly India Value Fund) has sold a part of its stake in PolicyBazaar to five different firms – SII, Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust Plc, Triumph Global Holdings Pte, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund Series 8 and India Acorn Fund. The financial details of the deal is yet to be disclosed.

“True North has been and continues to be a good friend, advisor and has supported us as an investor through the last few years. We are grateful for that and glad to see them having a good partial exit, we welcome on board the new shareholders. True North continues to be an investor and we thank them for the confidence,” said Yashish Dahiya, chief executive of Policybazaar in a press statement.

In October 2020, True North had conducted the first tranche of its stake sale in the company. It continues to be invested in the company for its next phase of growth. Founded in June 2008 by Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar, the online insurance unicorn is reportedly looking to head for an IPO in 2021. The company is backed by investors like SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Tiger Global Management and Tencent Holdings, Policybazaar was last valued at $3.5 billion.

SII, Bharat Biotech to ramp up Covid-19 vaccine production amid deadly second wave

SII has played a pivotal role in the manufacturing of Covishield, a vaccine against Covid 19 virus and used in many countries.

Divya Sehgal, Partner, True North, stated “We’ve had a great partnership with PolicyBazaar over the last three years. We are extremely pleased with the company’s sustained growth momentum and efficiency in delivering great results in spite of the challenging market conditions. We will continue to support PolicyBazaar as it heads towards public markets in the next 12-15 months and scripts many more success stories