E-Commerce Boosts Insurance Demand at PasarPolis & Qoala

Insurance technology startup (insurtech) PasarPolis and Qoala noted that demand for shipping service protection products increased during the corona pandemic. This is in line with the increase in transactions on e-commerce platforms.

The founder and CEO of PasarPolis Cleosent Randing said that demand for shipping service insurance such as GoSend and GoBox increased 12 times during the Covid-19 pandemic. Likewise with protection products for transactions on Tokopedia.

“This is a signal of public awareness of the importance of increasing protection during a pandemic,” Cleosent told Katadata.co.id, Thursday (24/9). Therefore, the company plans to launch new products such as insurance for online motorcycle taxi drivers. In addition, protection is related to travel and tourism.

As is known, several requirements must be fulfilled by prospective aircraft passengers, one of which is a Covid-19 free certificate. With this tightening, travel plans are at risk of being canceled so insurance becomes a necessity. Cleosent said the new product will be tailored to the needs of the community during the coronavirus pandemic.

“There are a lot of concerns right now that we need to answer. There are a lot of things that need to be insured,” he said. Overall, the demand for insurance in PasarPolis increases every year. The increase was 80 times last year compared to 2018.

In 2019, the company issued more than 650 million policies. This service is provided to online motorcycle taxi drivers, delivery couriers, online sellers, and others. However, Cleosent did not provide details on the increase in demand until the middle of this year.

Qoala is Experiencing an Increase in Demand for Logistics Insurance

Another similar company, Qoala, also recorded an increase in demand for logistics service protection products. “The popularity of health insurance and logistics for e-commerce is increasing during the pandemic,” said Qoala Head of Partnerships Cindy Tan. But he did not specify an increase in demand.

He only mentioned that the company processed more than two million policies per month this year. The number has jumped compared to last year, seven thousand policies per month. The two startups also received funding this year.

Insurance Technology or Insurtech Qoala also collaborates with insurance broker Mitra Jasa Pratama and the company PT Asuransi Takaful Umum to develop innovative insurance products. Now insurance protection can be obtained from purchasing a child’s favorite gadget.

Through this collaboration, the purchase of an imoo watch phone is now equipped with Covid-19 insurance protection. During the period from 28 August to 30 September 2020, every purchase of imoo Watch Phone Z series (Z2, Z5, Z6) will immediately be equipped with insurance for children (policyholders).

Both Startups Announced Funding amid the Pandemic

PasarPolis closed its series B funding round of US$ 54 million or around IDR 796.5 billion in early September. The fresh funds were obtained from LeapFrog Investments, SBI Investment, Alpha JWC Ventures, Intudo Ventures, and Xiaomi.

Meanwhile, Qoala announced the acquisition of series A funding of US$ 13.5 million or around IDR 209 billion last April. This investment is led by the Centauri Fund, a joint venture company of South Korean Kookmin Bank and Telkom Indonesia.

In addition, there are new investors involved, namely Sequoia India, Flourish Ventures, Kookmin Bank Investments, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Mirae Asset Sekuritas. Previous investors such as Central Capital Venture from Bank Central Asia (BCA), MDI Ventures, Surge, MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, and SeedPlus also participated.

McKinsey estimates that there are 1.6 billion packages of e-commerce transactions sent per year, by 2022. The number could increase again, given that e-commerce services are increasingly in demand during the pandemic.

Based on AppsFlyer’s report entitled ‘The State of Shopping App Marketing 2020 Edition’, Indonesian consumers spending time on e-commerce platforms increased by 70% during February-June. In addition, Facebook and Bain & Company estimate that the value of online shopping transactions in Indonesia is nearly US$ 72 billion or around IDR 1,047.6 trillion in 2025.