Go Digit, an Indian insurance startup, has raised $141 million from dozens of investors in an initial public offering that opens on Wednesday.
Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Bay Pond, Mirae Asset Management, Steadview Capital and HSBC, in addition to Indian mutual funds operated by SBI, ICICI, Axis, Tata and Edelweiss helped as lead sponsors of the IPO, Go Digit disclosed in a filing to the stock exchange.
Founded by Kamesh Goyal, a former KPMG executive and insurance industry veteran, Go Digit sells motor, health, travel and accident insurance. The startup simplifies the process of buying and purchasing insurance by enabling users to self-check, submit claims and process service requests from their smartphones. According to the IPO prospectus, during the nine months ended December last yr, it served a total of roughly 43 million customers and issued a total of 8 million policies.
The Mumbai-based startup goals to lift around $313 million from its IPO. It expects a valuation of about $3 billion, about 25% lower than its last private valuation of $4 billion.
Retail investors in India are beginning to listen to tech startup stocks. Even though the country’s benchmark Sensex is up 1.4% this yr, many tech startups that have gone public in India in recent years have outperformed. Shares of food delivery company Zomato are up 51.2% this yr, while shares of insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar are up 60.4%.
Go Digit – backed by Peak XV, Fairfax Group, TVS Capital, A91 Partners and Indian cricket star Virat Kohli – initially desired to go public in 2022 but abandoned the plan, citing poor market conditions. According to the draft prospectus submitted at that point, the company wanted to lift USD 440 million as part of the initial public offering.
Go Digit is just one of many Indian firms seeking to go public this yr. Last month, food delivery startup Swiggy also confidentially filed to go public, in search of to lift about $1.25 billion in an initial public offering. At the end of last yr, Ola Electric filed to go public, and its older sister, transportation giant Ola, plans to follow suit later this yr.