Insurance Geek Secures $25 Million Series C Funding, Largest Single Round in China's Group Health Insurance Sector
On March 18, VCBeat learned at the earliest opportunity thatInsgeek Completes $25 Million Series C Financing, Led by SIG (Susquehanna International Group) and China Renaissance New Economy Fund, with Yuanqi Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor for the financing. The company, which has been deeply engaged in corporate group insurance within the insurtech sector, had previously received investments from several well-known institutions, including the National SME Development Fund and Legend Holdings.To date, insgeek has secured nearly RMB 400 million in cumulative funding, with multiple investors from China and the United States participating.
Founded in 2014, insgeek has remained focused on the group health insurance sector for over five years. By adopting a unique B2B2C model and building a new “group insurance + healthcare” ecosystem within the broader health industry, it has become the fastest-growing enterprise in the group health insurance segment.
Over the past three years, insgeek’s core business metrics have grown by more than 200%, and the company is now nearing break-even.According to Ren Bin, Founder and CEO of insgeek, this round of financing will be used for technology research and development and the recruitment of professional talent, to continuously deepen the multi-tiered health service system of “group insurance + healthcare,” accelerate the national city layout of group insurance, fully expand into new first-tier cities in 2020, and enhance the nationwide coverage of service capabilities.
As it helps alleviate the pressure of medical payments, China’s health insurance market has maintained rapid growth in recent years. From RMB 158.718 billion in 2014 to RMB 544.813 billion in 2018, the sector attracted significant attention with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 35% over the past five years. In the first three quarters of 2019, original premium income from health insurance business reached RMB 567.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30.90%, surpassing the total premium income for the entire previous year.Based on the projected growth rate, the market size of health insurance is expected to exceed one trillion yuan in 2020.
Policy support has also been intensifying. Whether it was the “New Regulations on Health Insurance” issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) at the end of 2019, or the “Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Healthcare Security System” released by the State Council in March this year, these major policies have repeatedly clarified and reinforced the prospects for health insurance. Undoubtedly, the commercial health insurance market will witness even more rapid growth in 2020.
Before launching his startup, Ren Bin worked as an actuary. After graduating with a degree in actuarial science from the University of Waterloo in Canada, he successively served at major insurance companies including Union Life Insurance, Sunshine Insurance Group, and Anbang Insurance Group, where he also held the position of Head of Product Actuarial Services.
In 2014, Ren Bin, having spent a decade in the insurance industry and deeply aware of its pain points, decided to embark on an entrepreneurial journey. At the time, the industry suffered from numerous challenges, including insufficient technological innovation, limited coverage of group insurance, homogeneous products, and poor service experience. He founded InsGeek, dedicated to leveraging technology to enhance the industry’s efficiency and user experience. The essence of “InsGeek” lies in delivering ultimate products, ultimate service, and ultimate experience.
In that year, more than 100 insurance companies across China engaged in commercial health insurance business, with the market size of the health insurance industry reaching RMB 158.718 billion, marking a new starting point for rapid growth in the sector.
“Ultimate excellence” is merely an aspirational concept; Ren Bin has positioned his entrepreneurial venture in the group health insurance sector. Having studied and worked in North America, Ren Bin observed that in mature commercial insurance markets like the United States, nearly 80% of health insurance policies are group plans. In contrast, although some large insurers in China offer group insurance services, two significant pain points are evident: first, group insurance primarily targets large corporations, resulting in high entry barriers and a low proportion of SMEs being served; second, the technological sophistication of group insurance remains low, resembling a “one-size-fits-all” approach with only a few standardized options, thereby failing to deliver personalized solutions.
In light of this, Insgeek has been deeply cultivating the B2B segment of corporate group insurance since its inception. In 2015, insurtech witnessed its first wave of investment boom; however, compared with payment and credit sectors, it remained in a phase of steady growth. At that time, insurtech companies were still in an “exploratory” stage. Insgeek was the first to establish a closed-loop service covering product design, underwriting, risk control, and claims settlement, thereby differentiating itself from traditional online distribution platforms and building its core competitiveness.
Ren Bin, Founder and CEO of insgeek, stated, “The application of big data and artificial intelligence technologies is crucial to insgeek’s development at every stage. Our risk control models, pricing systems, product innovation, and service upgrades are all data-driven. By centering on user needs and continuously building a multi-tiered product and service ecosystem through industry collaboration and cross-sector integration, while constantly enhancing our data infrastructure and underlying systems, we ensure that insgeek remains at the forefront of the industry.” Looking back on its five-year journey, insgeek has solidified its position in this niche market through disruption and innovation across three distinct phases.
Phase I (2015–2016): Building Differentiated Advantages Aimed at Market Expansion and Optimizing Group Insurance Operational EfficiencyIn 2015, Insgeek launched its “Cloud Group Insurance” SaaS system, migrating the offline business processes of corporate group insurance online and providing enterprises with a one-stop solution for policy issuance, endorsement, statistics, and management. In 2016, Insgeek introduced “Mobile Claims Services,” becoming the first platform in the industry to enable rapid claims settlement through photo uploads via WeChat, thereby pioneering paperless claims processing in the group insurance sector. In the same year, Insgeek secured nearly RMB 100 million in Series A and A+ financing from investors including Fosun Ruizheng, Tsinghua Holdings Yinxing, Legend Star, and TusStar Venture Capital.
2017–2018 marked the second phase of rapid growth for insgeek as it comprehensively captured the group insurance market.By establishing an innovative B2B2C model, InsGeek pioneered the platform-based management of products, systems, and services. Corporate group insurance has evolved into a “comprehensive protection model” that covers employees and their families, ushering in a new era of personalized benefits where “every individual receives a unique plan.” Moving away from the “one-size-fits-all” approach, the industry has entered a phase of “user-centric customized protection” driven by technological innovation, allowing InsGeek to build significant competitive barriers.
At that time, the entire industry was already on a trajectory of rapid growth. Since “insurtech” was formally defined in 2017, it has entered a fast lane garnering significant attention, with venture capital shifting its focus comprehensively from internet finance and fintech to the insurtech sector. Driven by global investor interest, total worldwide insurtech funding reached $6.59 billion in 2019, a 52% year-on-year increase, marking a five-year high. Industry opportunities and strong capital support have enabled a cohort of companies with distinctive business development and innovation capabilities to stand out.
In 2018, insgeek secured RMB 100 million in Series B financing from the National Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (established by the Ministry of Finance) and Legend Holdings.
As the business experienced rapid growth, Ren Bin also identified deeper industry needs.“Clients do not purchase insurance with the expectation of filing claims; rather, they seek more comprehensive medical coverage and access to superior medical services.”Thus, insgeek began to focus on the industry ecosystem of “group insurance + healthcare.”In 2019, the third phase of insgeek was positioned as ecological integration and comprehensive development.Strategic partnerships have been established with healthcare and wellness service providers such as WeDoctor, Haodf, and Yijiayi. Focusing on employee health and disease risks, the company is expanding its group insurance offerings into a “Group Insurance + Medical Services” model, creating a closed-loop system that integrates group insurance coverage with health management through comprehensive health data.
Data shows that insgeek has provided group insurance and health management services to over 6,000 enterprises and hundreds of thousands of employees through its “Geek+” platform.
Earlier this year, insgeek’s achievements once again won market recognition,Completed $25 Million in Series C Financing, setting a new record for the largest single financing round in China's corporate group insurance sector in recent years.
SIG and Huaxing New Economy Fund, the lead investors in this financing round, shared their investment thesis on Insgeek. According to Gao Yaning, an investor at SIG, “Insgeek is a founding team characterized by creativity, a rapid understanding of China’s economy, the ability to forecast future trends, as well as strategic vision and strong execution capabilities.”
Sun Jian, Managing Director of Huaxing New Economy Fund, stated, “The Chinese health insurance market is growing at a rapid pace. We are optimistic that insgeek, driven by its ‘service + data’ model, will help enterprises and employees make better product choices and enhance their experience, thereby reshaping business standards in the group insurance sector. We firmly believe that insgeek will become a leading enterprise in the insurtech field.”
In 2020, insgeek’s group insurance business will achieve full coverage in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, while accelerating its expansion into new first-tier cities. In addition to Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Wuhan, the company will extend its presence to Tianjin, Qingdao, Chongqing, Suzhou, and other new first-tier cities, further deepening regional product differentiation and enhancing its service ecosystem.
Driven by the impact of information technology and endogenous industry forces, new business models and ecosystem layouts are quietly taking shape in the field of insurance technology. Insgeek’s intelligent systems have transformed the traditionally complex and protracted operational norms. The “Geek+” platform offers customized protection services that meet the personalized needs of both enterprises and employees, extending group insurance coverage to more employees’ families.
The closed-loop health service model of “Insurance + Healthcare” provides enterprises with corporate health reports, facilitating the digital transformation of human resources management and enabling dynamic adjustments to employee welfare and care. Meanwhile, it offers online medical services to help employees overcome challenges such as appointment scheduling, consultations, and medication access.
In 2020, insgeek will deepen its “insurance + healthcare” ecosystem, extending health management services for corporate employees to cover pre-consultation health management, online diagnosis and treatment during consultations, and post-consultation chronic disease management and rehabilitation therapy, thereby gradually establishing a comprehensive development framework for innovative group insurance products and upgrading its service system across the entire medical care journey.
Ren Bin, Founder & CEO of insgeek, stated that group insurance serves as a “link” connecting enterprises and employees, bearing the responsibility for health protection and employee care. The original intention of the “group insurance + healthcare” service is to create a closed-loop health protection service for enterprises and their employees, alleviating the financial burden of medical treatment while promoting better health—a commitment that remains unwavering.
In the future, insgeek will build a clearer and more hierarchical health service system to address the differentiated needs of various populations and scenarios. Ren Bin believes that corporate group insurance will gradually become an essential infrastructure, akin to utilities such as water, electricity, and gas, turning into a mandatory benefit for enterprises.
At the conclusion of his interview with VCBeat, Ren Bin stated,“Whether in healthcare or insurance, both industries are extremely challenging and require sustained perseverance.”