Digit Insurance becomes first unicorn of 2021 with $1.9 billion valuation

Fairfax-backed digital insurance company Digit Insurance disclosed on January 15 that it has achieved the valuation of $1.9 billion, becoming the first start-up to enter the unicorn club in 2021.

The company said it's valuation has doubled since last year.

The insurer said it achieved the $1 billion plus valuation (Rs 14,050 crore to be exact) in three years of operations after existing investors pumped in Rs 135 crore of additional capital in January 2021.

In January 2020, Digit had raised raise $84 million (approximately Rs 600 crore) from three growth equity investors - A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital. Digit is backed by Prem Watsa’s Fairfax.

Digit is an insurance start-up, founded with the aim of making insurance simple. It has a portfolio of products across motor, travel, property and health insurance.

"In an almost-recession like year for most businesses and when the insurance industry itself grew by 0.1 percent, Digit grew by 31.9 percent, earning a premium of $186 million (approximately Rs 1,359.72 crore) in April-December period (FY21)," said the company.

In a statement, Digit said it also garnered profits in all three quarters of FY21 and has 15 million customers. Moneycontrol had reported earlier that Digit was eyeing a breakeven by FY21-end.

The insurer uses technology to simplify processes for their customers, with methods such as smartphone-enabled self-inspection and audio claims. It is 100 percent on cloud.

Digit has also been a part of the sandbox initiative of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) where products can be tested on a pilot basis for six months. Here even during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Digit had launched a health insurance product for the disease.

Set up in 2017, Digit is headquartered in Bengaluru and was founded by insurance veteran Kamesh Goyal, who has over 30 plus years of experience in the insurance sector.