Insurtech Company Nova Benefits Raises $1 Mn From Better Capital, Multiply Ventures And Titan Capital The platform intends to use the capital to integrate with insurance and HRMS companies, co-create a new category of health insurance products with insurers, and expand its engineering and business development efforts
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Bengaluru-based corporate health insurance platform Nova Benefits announced on Wednesday that it has raised $1 million in a Seed funding round led by Multiply Ventures, Better Capital, and Titan Capital. Sumit Maniyar, chief executive officer, Rupeek Gold Loans, and Ashish Goyal, co-founder, Early Salary also participated as angel investors.
Born during the 2020 COVID pandemic, the platform intends to use the capital to integrate with insurance and HRMS companies, co-create a new category of health insurance products with insurers, and expand its engineering and business development efforts.
"Nova has achieved an industry-leading claims CSAT of 9.6/10 by bringing transparency and tracking in the claims process. Through process improvements like doing a document deficiency check at the time of filing a claim, we've reduced the average claim settlement time by several days. For HRs, Nova eliminates redundant processes like monthly addition and deletion of employees by integrating with the HRMS systems like Darwin Box, Greytip, Keka, ZohoHR, and several others," said Saransh Garg, co-founder, and chief executive officer, Nova Benefits.
Nova Benefits has built an employee benefits platform centered around corporate health insurance. Health insurance is the most common benefit provided by companies in India to their team members. Through Nova's web and mobile applications, team members can see all company-provided benefits in one place. They can access their insurance e-cards, find cashless hospitals and make claims within Nova's platform. It also consults companies helping them choose the best health plans for their team. It ensures faster claims settlement for their clients through a priority claims resolution SLA and end-to-end claims concierge service. The company also helps save HR time by eliminating manual workflows, the company shared.
"Employee insurance and benefits is a deeply broken experience. We were impressed with Nova's unique approach and it has been incredible to see them become the fastest-growing company in the category in a matter of just seven months," stated Vaibhav Domkundwar, chief executive officer and founder, Better Capital.
The company is seeing sky-rocketing demand due to COVID-19. There has been a significant surge in small companies taking insurance for the first time and large companies enhancing their coverages while including more family members.
Its clients include Snapdeal, Yulu Bikes, Chumbak, Fisdom, and Dealshare among others.
"India has one of the lowest health insurance penetrations in the world and this needs to fundamentally change. Making corporate health insurance more accessible, affordable and transparent is a great way to solve the problem. Nova benefits is on a mission to do that. We at Multiply Ventures are excited to partner with the team. They are reimagining the entire value chain of health and health insurance for a company. They are empowering the employer and the employee by digitizing the entire user journey - from discovery to the unfortunate event of a claim," added Bhushan Patil, founder, Multiply Ventures.
Companies in India, usually only cover in-patient hospitalization as part of health insurance. Out-patient visits like doctor consultations, diagnostics, dental, and eye check-ups are not covered. The health insurance coverage provided is typically in the 3-5 lakh range which is inadequate. All of this creates a deficit which Nova plans to solve by providing flexible options to the end-employees to purchase as add-on coverages. The coming decade will see a hybrid model of employers and employees both contributing towards providing adequate healthcare coverage, the platform further said.
Corporate health insurance premiums are projected to cross $11 billion by 2025. Health insurance is now the largest segment within insurance overtaking motor due to rapid growth. Most Indians do not have a personal health insurance policy and rely on their employer to get coverage. Medical inflation of 10-15 per cent per year puts upward pressure on premiums. COVID-19 has also led to a psychological shift in people's mindset towards health and their propensity to seek health insurance when choosing their employer.
