Swiss Re invested $ 100 million in Chinese insurtech startup Waterdrop

Reinsurer Swiss Re has teamed up with Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings to spearhead a new $ 230 million funding round for Chinese insurer Waterdrop, Forinshurer writes.

This is Swiss Re’s first investment in a startup in China and is part of the reinsurer’s long-term commitment to the country. Swiss Re invested $ 100 million in the latest round of Waterdrop funding.

Ning Zhou, Head of Major Investments and Acquisitions in Asia at a Switzerland-based reinsurance company, commented, “As a leading online company, Waterdrop is well-positioned to address the bottlenecks of traditional insurance and paving the way for future industry breakthroughs such as accelerating technology innovation and digitalization of the industry around the world, which we saw during the situation with COVID-19″.

The Waterdrop Company, known in China as Shuidihuzhu, was founded in 2016 and offers online insurance solutions through the Waterdrop Insurance Mall, offers disease protection crowdfunding through its Waterdrop Crowdfunding platform, and also operates mutual funds.

In the first half of 2020, Insurance Mall’s platform reported 120 million unique users and $ 865 million in premiums, not too far from the total premiums paid for the entire past year.

The latest round of funding will be used to expand the platform as well as develop partnerships with other healthcare organizations through the use of artificial intelligence and big data, Waterdrop said.