Raise Financial Hires Ex-Upstox Exec Abhishek Singh To Helm New Insurtech Bet

Fintech unicorn Raise Financial Services has roped in former Upstox executive Abhishek Singh as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its new insurtech vertical Pluto Insurance.

Singh confirmed the development in a post on LinkedIn. His bio on the networking platform also reflected the new designation. 

“Twenty-three years in this industry, and I am as excited as I was on day one. Happy to announce that I am joining Pluto Insurance… I’ve spent most of my career wanting to build things that solve real problems for real people, not just move numbers on a board. Pluto Insurance gives me that shot, at scale, in a category that badly needs it,” said Singh.

In his post, Singh added that Pluto plans to build a platform for “what the customer actually needs, backed by cutting edge tech and AI”.

An alumnus of ICFAI Business School, Singh counts more than two decades of experience under his belt. He previously served at companies like Aviva India, PNB Metlife and Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance. He was last working as a senior director at Upstox, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

While the website of the new platform is yet to go live, it is already inviting users to join its waitlist. As per its website, Pluto Insurance will be housed under GreenLife Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd (GIBL), and bears the same IRDAI registration number and licence code as GIBL. 

The appointment comes three months after Raise Financial acquired GIBL in an undisclosed cash-and-stock deal. At the time, the fintech unicorn had said that it would invest $15 Mn in GIBL to build a direct consumer insurance distribution platform.

Notably, recent reports also suggested that GIBL has been rebranded to Pluto Insurance. However, Raise Financial has made no public announcement of the same. 

Notably, Singh is the second senior executive onboarded by the company in the past two months. In late-July, Ranjeet Walunj said that he had joined Pluto Insurance as its chief product and technology officer (CPTO).

While there appears no clarity on what Pluto Insurance exactly does, Walunj earlier said that the platform would streamline insurance for consumers. “At Pluto, we aim to build this (insurance) business differently: spam-free, easy-to-use, product-tech led, enabled with AI and most importantly, a platform that puts consumers and their needs first!” Walunj said then.

Nevertheless, Pluto Insurance will look to leverage GIBL’s strong presence in the B2B insurance distributor space and its offline network spanning over 50 cities and towns. 

Founded in 2021 by former Paytm Money CEO Pravin Jadhav, Alok Pandey, Jay Prakash Gupta, and Raunak Rathi, Raise Financial is a unicorn that operates a gamut of fintech platforms. 

Besides stock broking platform Dhan, Raise also owns and operates financial market information platform Upsurge, market research platform ScanX, and AI-driven trading insights platform FuzzAI. It also acquired new-age media startup Filter Coffee last year.

The startup entered the unicorn club in October last year after raising $120 Mn in its Series B round led by Hornbill Capital and Japan’s MUFG at a valuation of $1.2 Bn. 

The post Raise Financial Hires Ex-Upstox Exec Abhishek Singh To Helm New Insurtech Bet appeared first on Inc42 Media.