Sunday will use the fresh funds to expand into Indonesia while keeping up with its rapid growth in Thailand
Thailand-based full-stack insurtech startup Sunday has raised US$9 million in pre-Series B funding round led by SCB 10X, the venture capital arm of the Siam Commercial Bank PCL (SCB), with participation from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Quona Capital, and LINE Ventures, the startup announced in a press release today.
The Bangkok-headquartered startup had previously bagged $11 million in its Series A round of financing led by Quona Capital in December, 2019, pushing its total accumulated capital to over $20 million.
Sunday will use the fresh funds to keep up with its rapid growth plans in Thailand and to support its expansion to Indonesia, while deepening its proprietary employee benefits platform for health and motor insurance, Sunday Service, the statement noted.
Founded in 2017, this multi-line digital insurance platform applies data models to provide easily customizable motor, health, travel and electronics insurance to customers and businesses. Sunday uses machine learning (ML) to develop risk prediction algorithms and recommendation engines for health and motor coverages, the statement said.
Sunday aims to simplify the customers’ insurance journey through comprehensive and creative products, digital claim processing, personalized policies and quality after-sales service, while SMEs and corporates can easily onboard employees, check claim trends and update employee information on Sunday’s intuitive platform, the startup’s website claims.
Sunday also offers self-services such as ML-powered disease symptom checker through its Sunday Service app while telemedicine services are available through API integration with its provider-partners, the statement noted.
The startup will also offer medication delivery services and recommend hospitals as per customer coverage limit through its app, the statement announced.
Since its inception, Sunday has scaled its offerings through its direct B2B channel and B2B2C partners, and has sold over 1 million policies, served more than 700 local enterprises, and has over 100,000 active health members, according to Sunday’s website. The startup has grown consistently for 3 years and is on track to achieve 100% revenue growth, the statement claims.
Commenting on the impact of COVID-19 on the insurance market, Sunday Co-founder and CEO Cindy Kua said, “In times of great uncertainty, consumer demand will shift towards affordable core insurance products that truly help with risk management.”
A report by Ernst and Young indicates that the insurtech market trends in Southeast Asia will continue to change rapidly, with consumers demanding digital-first insurance solutions.
“As a team, we believe Sunday is uniquely positioned to deliver one-stop personalised insurance coverages and services that meet these evolving risks and growing demands from businesses and individuals in Southeast Asia,” she added.
The startup is on a mission to build an adaptive insurance group that is “always there for people in times of need,” Kua noted.
According to Mukaya (Tai) Panich, Chief Venture and Investment Officer at SCB 10X, Southeast Asia has more than 360 million internet users, making it an attractive insurtech growth hub.
“Utilizing data and AI, Sunday is bringing its full-stack, affordable, always available, and personalized insurance products to fit the needs of consumers in the region. In SCB 10X’s perspective, owning the insurance value chain end-to-end is a unique differentiating factor for Sunday among insurtech companies,” Panich added.
Global insurance premiums reached $5 trillion in 2018, and with the insurance market gradually moving east, by 2029, the Asia-Pacific region is estimated to account for 42% of global premiums, with China set to become the global insurance market leader by 2030, a report by Swiss Re indicates.
Besides, according to a survey conducted by Bain in 2019, 90% of consumers surveyed suggested that they were open to embracing insurance ecosystems provided by companies like Sunday, although most countries in Southeast Asia remain underserved and uninsured.
This has piqued investor interest in insurtech companies leading Indonesian insurtech startup PasarPolis to bag $54 million in the largest insurtech startup funding round in Southeast Asia last week.
Header image courtesy of Sunday
