Farifax Holdings funds the general insurance startup Digit

By Raaghav G R

Posted on June 13, 2017

Farifax Holdings is a VC firm founded and run by the Canada – based billionaire, Prem Watsa. Yesterday (12/06/2017), the firm announced that it will fund the technology driven, general insurance startup, Digit. Fairfax Holdings has already received approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) to fund the general insurance startup, Digit. It plans to invest Rs. 385 crores in Series A round of funding in the startup. Through this investment, Fairfax Holdings will have a 45% stake in Digit. The majority of the remaining 55% stake in the company will be owned by Kamesh Goyal, former CEO of Allianz, a Germany – based general insurance company and a clutch of angel investors. Kamesh Goyal will become the chairman of Digit. Read more on Funding

Mr. Farifax was the co – founder of ICICI Lombard who just last month (May, 2017) sold 12% stake of the joint venture to Warburg Pincus and other private equity investors. Fairfax Holdings has also announced that it will be further diluting its stake in ICICI Lombard’s IPO (Initial Public Offering).

Sandeep Komaravelly, the former CFO of Snapdeal said, “We want to bring about a change in insurance. The differentiation is from the point of view of making the entire experience for the customer seamless”.

The only other general insurance startup which had managed to raise funds from VC firms this year is Acko General Insurance, which raised US $30 million from the VC firm, Coverfox in seed round of funding during May this year. Read more on Startup News

Farifax Holdings funds the general insurance startup Digit