Warburg Pincus announces equity commitment to establish Oona
Global growth investor Warburg Pincus, in partnership with insurance executive Abhishek Bhatia, announced a $350 million equity commitment to establish Oona Insurance, a digital general insurance platform in Southeast Asia. Oona is wholly owned by Oona Insurance and backed 100% by Warburg Pincus.
Through a buy-and-build strategy, Oona aims to become the “pre-eminent digital general insurance platform in Southeast Asia.” The platform is seeded with two significant acquisitions – PT Asuransi Bina Dana Arta Tbk in Indonesia and Mapfre Insular Insurance Corporation in the Philippines. These assets bring Oona an initial product portfolio, “strong distribution relationships, a robust infrastructure, and an immediate foothold” in the region upon which to build its business. The company will be rebranded as Oona in the future.
With the acquisition of ABDA and MIIC, Oona carries a wide range of products, including motor, property, and group health insurance. In addition, Oona plans to introduce new products such as travel, health as well as products that are emerging on the back of increasing adoption of internet, e-commerce, and digital payments.
Oona will invest “meaningfully” to build a new tech stack with a focus on leveraging market leading technology to enhance customer experience, with the aim to be the number one choice for partners and customers alike based on its customer service, technology, and strong brand.
“General insurance is a significantly underpenetrated industry in the region and a sector that’s ripe for digital disruption. Legacy systems and mindset amongst incumbents provide a real opportunity to create a truly customer-focused organization with a strong tech and brand spine. I am very excited to partner with Warburg Pincus to build Oona into a truly world-class company. With the support of Warburg Pincus, Oona will continue to explore opportunities to deepen the depth and breadth of its presence in key markets in Southeast Asia. All the assets and operations will be consolidated under a coherent operating model and a common brand and tech stack, positioning us well to capture the rapidly growing opportunities for digital general insurance in the region.” – Abhishek Bhatia, group CEO of Oona.
“With consistently rising incomes and accelerating digital adoption, we believe Oona is well positioned to capture the tremendous growth opportunity for digital insurance across Southeast Asia. We are excited about our partnership with Abhishek and Oona’s talented management team and look forward to leveraging our deep expertise in the insurance sector to support Oona’s growth aspirations. With our steadfast commitment, we are confident that Oona will evolve into a truly differentiated platform that will consolidate the market and create the most compelling insurance products to reach the massively underserved market in the region.” – Saurabh Agarwal, managing director at Warburg Pincus.
