The Indian Express Group — one of the world’s largest digital news groups reaching over 140 million users / month across the world in 6 languages — has entered the insurance web aggregation space by acquiring a 100% stake in MyInsuranceClub.
The deal was signed early this year and completed after IRDAI approval.
MyInsuranceClub, an IRDAI-licensed Insurance Web Aggregator has been among the earliest entrants into the insurance comparison business in India. Deepak Yohannan (CEO) and Manoj Aswani (COO), the original founders of MyInsuranceClub, will continue to run and operate the business under the new shareholders and will report to Sanjay Sindhwani – Digital CEO, Indian Express Group.
Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group said: “We liked the space and the people who are running the company, plus we saw synergies with our media business which now reaches more than 140M unique users/month*. With low insurance penetration in India, this space offers huge opportunity for growth. As a media and marketing organisation our skills in building a strong and trusted brand will work to the advantage of MyInsuranceClub to enable it to become a significant player in this business, and be a first step for us to diversify our revenue streams beyond advertising.”
Deepak Yohannan, Founder & CEO of MyInsuranceClub said: “This acquisition offers two benefits, both of which are crucial in our line of business. Firstly, for any insurance business to succeed, whether as a manufacturer or as an intermediary, trust plays a crucial role. With brand “Indian Express” on board, we hope to solve that problem to a large extent. Secondly, the group has very large digital footprint in multiple regional languages. This can be a great catalyst for an online-only business like ours. We are very excited in this new phase of our entrepreneurial journey. Also a deal like this, with such a trusted brand, validates our business journey and ethics.”
MyInsuranceClub sells both life and non-life insurance products. The major focus so far has been on selling term insurance and health insurance plans which are must-have products for most individuals. The company will now focus on the other retail plans like motor and travel insurance also. On the customer acquisition front, the company has built a strong organic channel and gets a little less than half a million monthly users, totally free of cost. The company will continue to focus on strengthening this channel as online acquisition costs in insurance are among the highest globally. The company is partnered with the major brands in both the life and non-life insurance industry.
The Indian Express group was advised by Lastaki Advisors for this transaction.