Page 33 - Insurance Times January 2023

INTERVIEW

"The positive outlook

towards the Indian

insurance sector is also

being driven by the recent

regulatory reforms being

introduced by IRDAI."

Prerak Sethi
Founder, RIA Insurance and
Co-Founder, India InsurTech Association

About Prerak Sethi Q. Over the last few years Insurtech funding
Prerak Sethi is the CEO & Founder of RIA - an InsurTech across the globe has witnessed sharp growth
company using technology & data to improve the health
despite the pandemic. India too has witnessed
insurance experience for customers, leading to them living
entry of many InsurTech players. Can you high-
healthier and happier lives.
light some of the funding trends here?
Prior to founding RIA, Prerak has 5+ years of experience in
A. The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for the
insurance distribution, set up one of India's first websites
insurtech sector, with funding levels in Indian insurtechs
for health insurance, and also co-authored a book on health
increasing from $290 Million in 2020 to $800 Million in 2021,
insurance.
as per the IIA-BCG report on India Insurtech Landscape and
Prerak is also a Co-Founder of the India InsurTech Associa- Trends released in April 2022. In the last four years, we saw
tion (https://indiainsurtech.com/) and advisor to multiple nearly 30 global Insurtech unicorns emerge. In India, we
InsurTech start-ups. have three Insurtech unicorns - Acko, Digit and
Policybazaar!
Outside of the insurance sector, Prerak has 10+ years of
work experience in Analytics, eCommerce, and Consulting. However, after years of growth in global funding, we are
He also has strong hands-on expertise in building online currently witnessing a downward trend in funding across
platforms, tech and data product management, customer sectors due to the rising inflation rates and challenging glo-
acquisition and retention, and UI/UX. bal economic conditions. This has impacted InsurTech too,
with a downturn in funding numbers globally and in India.
Prerak is a BSE in Computer Engineering from the Univer-
However, in the medium to long run, we feel India would
sity of Michigan, Ann Arbor and MBA in Finance and Entre-
remain relatively insulated given that the insurance and
preneurship from the Kellogg School of Management.

The Insurance Times January 2023 29