Facebook Pixel Code

Toffee: Insurance for millennials – Know details

The start-up has tied up with private insurers to offer bite-sized insurance packages for dengue treatment, accidents on the daily commute and even injuries suffered at the gym.

toffee, health insurance, insurance, Renters Toffee, Breast Cancer Toffee, StayFit Toffee, Smokers Toffee
Now comes insurance covers designed exclusively for dengue treatment, daily commutes and even a backpacking trip.

In 2017, 1.5 lakh people in India were infected with dengue, of which 250 died. For those without health insurance, it was a double blow. The hospital expenses resulted in a big hole in their savings. Again, everday many people meet with accidents on their daily commute. From a minor injury to themselves to their bikes or cars getting damaged to losing their personal belongings in the ensuing chaos, the losses can be varied.

Now comes insurance covers designed exclusively for dengue treatment, daily commutes and even a backpacking trip. And these do not cost a bomb. Other policies in the pipeline are Renters Toffee, Breast Cancer Toffee, StayFit Toffee and Smokers Toffee’. All of these are available on the mobile-first fluid web app called Toffee, the brainchild of co-founders Rohan Kumar and Nishant Jain.

“We work with major insurance companies to simplify comprehensive products and create new products wherever possible. We saw a huge gap in the insurance ecosystem where millennials are completely removed from the insurance buying process. Traditional products which were designed for an offline sale are being pushed through an online channel and this creates a huge friction for effective conversions,” says Kumar, CEO, Toffee. “We decided to create a contextualised and bite-size approach to introducing insurance for first-time buyers.”

Launched last month, the customised offerings are quasi-exclusive in the sense that they have been co-developed by Toffee and the respective insurance companies. While Apollo Munich has co-designed StayFit Toffee, Anti Dengue Toffee, Backpackers Toffee, HDFC Ergo has partnered with Toffee for Globetrotter Toffee and Commuters Toffee. For Renters Toffee and Breast Cancer Toffee, the start-up has tied up with Future Generali while Religare Health has helped develop All seasons Toffee. Even though the products are quasi-exclusive they are not an organic fit for other resellers who have a very different value proposition and target audience. As resellers, the start-up gets commission on policies sold to the end consumer. The focus is to carve strong distribution partnerships with brands that are bringing the audience for these products together, i.e. fitness centres, travel outfits/communities, health e-tailers, etc.

While there are several online insurance product aggregators in the market, Toffee isn’t directly competing with them. “We don’t compare existing products. Rather, we focus on creating and customising bite size relevant products that break the traditional insurance distribution stereotype,” explains Kumar. “We aim to leverage new-age tech capabilities for both distribution and servicing of insurance products thus mitigating dependencies on offline operations.” It takes about 90 seconds to make an insurance purchase on Toffee, with the majority of claims being approved in under two hours. What makes Toffee different is its ability to analyse, predict and customise product offerings that reduce risk for the young demographic.

Toffee has angel investor Vivek Gujral on board and is looking to raise a seed round of funding.

Get live Share Market updates, Stock Market Quotes, and the latest India News and business news on Financial Express. Download the Financial Express App for the latest finance news.

First published on: 14-02-2018 at 01:26 IST
Market Data
Market Data
Today’s Most Popular Stories ×