Plum: The Lifelong Fintech Plum is the leading insurtech platform in India, offering more than 3500 organizations business insurance and group health insurance solutions. Additionally, it just unveiled "e-imburse," a digitally first approach to reimbursement claims.
By Kavya Pillai
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Plum is the leading insurtech platform in India, offering more than 3500 organizations business insurance and group health insurance solutions. Additionally, it just unveiled "e-imburse," a digitally first approach to reimbursement claims. Reimbursement claims, which were often seen to be a difficult process, entail employees paying for their own medical care up front before requesting reimbursement from their insurance company.
In a conversation with Entrepreneur Media, Abhishek Poddar, Co-founder and CEO and Saurabh Arora, Co-founder and CTO of Plum said, "At our core, we're a technology-driven insurance firm dedicated to enhancing the health and financial security of individuals and businesses. Our commitment to understanding the needs of our clients fuels our innovative approach." In a conversation with Entrepreneur Media, Abhishek Poddar, Co-founder and CEO and Saurabh Arora, Co-founder and CTO of Plum said,
They further added, " For example, we identified a gap in knowledge among white-collar employees regarding their health benefits, prompting the creation of PolicyGPT. This platform democratises access to information, empowering employees to make informed decisions about their coverage." Additionally, recognizing that many individuals prefer non-cashless hospital treatments despite the inconvenience of claim reimbursement, led to them introducing 'e-imburse'. This solution streamlines the reimbursement process, saving claimants valuable time and resources while aligning with their insurers' requirements.
India's trajectory toward becoming the world's third-largest economy by 2030, with a targeted transition to a 'developed country' by 2047, is within reach amidst ongoing reforms. A pivotal aspect of achieving this vision lies in our workforce. Retaining talent demands providing comprehensive benefits, including health insurance for employees and their families.
Despite these aspirations, India grapples with notably low health insurance penetration. Merely 18% of urban and 14% of rural dwellers benefit from any health insurance scheme, resulting in substantial out-of-pocket expenses and a significant healthcare deficit. "However, this presents an opportunity for our health insurance market to innovate and exceed developed counterparts," said Arora.
At Plum, the vision extends far into the future as they build a brand with longevity in mind. They are experiencing are poised to achieve profitability by the end of FY 25. "Our journey towards profitability is guided by prudence. We meticulously track every metric and cost, ensuring efficiency in our operations. Central to this approach is our robust sales team, equipped with the expertise to serve customers of all sizes. They play a pivotal role in driving our growth trajectory forward," said Poddar.
In conclusion, the co-founders shared, "We are going deeper into healthcare. Our Telehealth program has had immense success. We are now building health assessments, health checkups, education and more, and tying all aspects of healthcare together to build a more impactful healthcare system. We are building products directly for employees, to serve the gaps that they may have. e.g. top ups, life insurance."
Facts
Amount of funding received -
Pre-Seed: $1 mn (2020) -Incubate Fund
Seed: $4mn (2020) - Peak XV(formerly sequoia capital) and tanglin venture partners
Series A: ~$16mn (2021) - Tiger Global
Year of inception - 2019
Number of employees- 350 employees
No. of app downloads- 100K+
Current Turnover - growing at 100%-150% YoY
