Insurtech firm Sunday taps into Thailand's EV boom

In The Top Up this week, we look at insurtech firm Sunday’s bet on electric vehicles and Seedly’s recent foray into travel insurance. [Read from your browser]( The Top Up 💵 Welcome to The Top Up! Delivered every fortnight via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in fintech. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here]( IN FOCUS In today's newsletter, we look at: - Insurtech firm Sunday’s bet on [Thailand’s EV boom]( - Why Seedly is getting into travel insurance like others before it - Buy now, pay later firm Afterpay’s rising bad debts and expenses --------------------------------------------------------------- Hello {NAME} “The first principle to be aware of when you sell insurance is that no one cares about insurance,” an insurance executive told me several years back. That makes a whole lot of sense not only when I think about how I’ve approached insurance as a consumer but also in the increasingly “embedded” nature of insurance products these days. Buying a phone? Why not get mobile device insurance to go along with it? Purchasing an electric vehicle? Choose from four different EV insurers on our panel. In Thailand, people that buy cars from automaker BYD can now do exactly that. One of the insurers on its panel is Sunday. The insurtech firm sees Thailand, Southeast Asia’s largest EV market, as one of the big opportunities in the region, my colleague Simon writes in this week’s Big Story. By one account, the firm has surpassed US$100 million in annual revenue, though it remains tight-lipped on its numbers. Continuing on the insurance theme in this week’s Hot Take, I dive deeper into the trend of financial comparison sites going beyond their bread and butter to introduce financial services of their own. Like fintech firm MoneySmart did last year, Seedly recently introduced an insurance product as well. But do financial aggregators really have what it takes to offer products of their own? -- Melissa  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG STORY [Insurtech firm Sunday’s next opportunity: Thailand's booming EV space]( While the company is still loss-making, its annual revenue may already exceed US$100 million.  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE HOT TAKE Is insurance the endgame or is it just the beginning? Here’s what happened: - Last month, financial comparison site Seedly [launched]( its first travel insurance product. - The offering, underwritten by HL Assurance and distributed by Singsaver, is only available to Singapore residents. - With the launch, Seedly follows in the footsteps of peers like MoneySmart and Indonesia’s Cermati, which also released their own insurance products. Here’s our take: When I was looking to apply for my first credit card, I turned to a financial comparison site. These sites simplify the decision-making process by presenting a snapshot of minimum spend requirements, annual fees, and freebies (which surprisingly factor into the decisions of many applicants). I continue to visit such comparison sites when purchasing travel insurance whenever I go on trips. Like the hundreds of financial products - from personal loans, credit cards, home loans, to travel insurance - available for comparison, these platforms themselves are highly commoditized. Some, like Seedly, also offer discussion boards and personal finance articles to help readers make a more informed decision. But the goal is ultimately the same: for a customer to hopefully click through and purchase a product via the site, which will then earn the platform a lead generation fee - the main income stream for these players. Owning a product changes the game. It serves as an added revenue stream, which is why many of these sites, from GoBear to [MoneySmart]( and now Seedly are moving to launch insurance products. The argument is that as an aggregator of products and an intermediary between customers and financial institutions, comparison sites better understand who buyers are, what products they are looking for, and at what price point. Seedly claims its premiums can be “up to 50% more affordable” than other insurers on the market. Yeap Ming Feng, head of Seedly, tells Tech in Asia that the travel insurance product was launched at a “discounted rate” during the current travel season so people can get coverage at an affordable price. In Indonesia, Cermati has grown from a financial aggregator to an all-rounded financial services group that offers loans, insurance, and even a banking-as-a-service product. The expansion, which began in 2018, has seen the firm’s [valuation grow tenfold]( between 2018 and 2022. Compared to launching a lending product, which requires obtaining the relevant licenses and subjecting the firm to higher financial risks (including the risk of defaults), distributing an insurance product is lower-hanging fruit. In Seedly’s case, it isn’t underwriting the travel insurance product itself, but it is working with insurance provider HL Assurance to do so. It also doesn’t have to hold an insurance broker license - it’s Singsaver, a sister firm under the MoneyHero umbrella, that does. Of course, timing and execution matters. GoBear’s expansion into travel insurance in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic weakened demand for such products significantly, was a costly move. This, among other reasons, eventually led to the platform [shutting down](. In Q3 this year, MoneyHero Group, Seedly’s parent company, reported a [17% year-on-year growth]( in revenue. This was largely driven by its insurance segment that grew 150% year on year, across the group. Yeap says Seedly is fundamentally “keen on any partnership” that can better personal finance decision-making for Singaporeans. While he hasn’t indicated plans to launch other financial services products in the future, don’t be surprised if more follow.  --------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Also check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of the fintech scene [here](. 1️⃣ [Amazon is no longer offering Venmo option for customers at checkout]( Analysts cited the lack of traction of the PayPal-owned payment method as a possible reason. 2️⃣ [Grab-led GXBank launches as Malaysia’s first digibank]( GXBank, a subsidiary of Singapore’s GXS Bank, offers a savings account and a savings goal feature, with plans to introduce a debit card soon. 3️⃣ [India’s Paytm slides 20% on curbing low-value personal loans]( The drop in share prices came after the firm announced plans to give out fewer personal loans under the 50,000 Indian rupee (US$600) threshold and favor lower-risk, more credit-worthy personal and commercial borrowers instead. 4️⃣ [Igloo raises $36m, eyes profitability by 2024]( The Singapore-based insurtech firm plans to use the funds to expand its acquisition efforts next year and strengthen its data infrastructure. 5️⃣ [India-based ZestMoney to close after unsuccessful sale]( The Goldman Sachs-backed buy now, pay later firm has raised over US$130 million since its founding and was once valued at US$445 million.  --------------------------------------------------------------- FYI [Afterpay’s bad debts climb, just like its costs]( According to accounts lodged with financial regulators, the Australian buy now, pay later firm reported a revenue of A$2 billion (US$1.3 billion) and a net loss of A$615 million (US$405 million) for the 18 months ending December 2022.  --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Do also check out previous issues of the newsletter [here](. Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to your “edit profile” page and choosing that option in our preferences center. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or ideas, feel free to get in touch with Terence, our editor-in-chief, at terence@techinasia.com. See you in a fortnight! P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Too many emails? Switch to a different frequency or get new content through our [preference center]( or [unsubscribe](. You can also break our hearts and remove yourself from all Tech in Asia emails over [here](  Copyright © 2023 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894