Led by private equity firm Affirma Capital, the capital will be raised across two connected rounds with wide participation of existing investors. Carrot has successfully closed the initial funding of 175 billion won (US $145 million) past week and the remaining 125 billion (US $105 million) will be raised through the extended round during Q4 this year.
Proof of trust and confidence in times of unstable markets
Investors writing a big check reflect their strong confidence in Carrot’s growth prospects considering the current financial landscape is extremely uncertain and unstable. The latest financing is Carrot’s 3rd round of funding and it took just over a year since it last raised $90 million through rights offering. The leading investor Affirma Capital, which has assets under management (AUM) of over $3.6 billion is a PE firm which spun out of Standard Chartered Bank and has deployed over $6.5 billion in 100+ companies globally throughout its 20+ years of investing. A number of investors involved from previous rounds are also participating, including Hanwha Group, Stic Investments, and Altos Ventures. The new share distribution will now give Hanwha 50.6% of voting power, 7.8% for SK Telecom, 3.9% for Tmap Mobility, Hyundai Motor Group 2.7%, Altos Ventures 10.2%, Stic Investments 15.5% and Affirma 9.2%; although the stakes may be adjusted as the extended round closes later current year.
On track to become Korea’s next unicorn
Upon completing its extended round of financing next quarter, Carrot’s valuation will reach 1 trillion won (US $850 million), taking it one step closer to becoming the nation’s first unicorn digital insurer. With the fresh capital, Carrot intends to strengthen its position as a pioneer in the existing market, accelerate its advancement of tech capacity and expansion of in-house pipelines, as well as external open innovation activities. The company anticipates faster rate of growth in coming years and plans to reach break-even by 2024 and go public by 2025.
Richard Moon, the recently named new CEO of Carrot said, “I am delighted to welcome our new investors and thank our existing shareholders for their continued support and confidence in Carrot. We have made very significant milestone while keeping the J-curve growth at even a faster pace, which I believe is driven by surging demand for simple and innovative insurance products to meet evolving customer needs in today’s world.” He continued, “Our big focus will be on agile and open innovation, which will speed up product development and technological innovation to fast-forward the future of insurance.”
About Carrot General Insurance Corp.
Established in 2019, Carrot was formed by visionary groups of companies from the fields of insurance, financials, technology, and auto, including Hanwha, SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor Group, Altos Ventures, and Stic Investments with core focus to advance outdated insurance and deliver insurance that is fair and reliable through the use of technology. Being the nation’s first fully-licensed 100% digital insurance carrier, Carrot has been disrupting the market with innovative products and has outpaced its global peers in terms of the speed of acquiring customers to its usage-based insurance program.
The company’s successful footprint owes itself to strong customer value propositions, including easy and accessible insurance, transparent premiums, AI automated accident registration and prompt dispatch of help services all made possible via proprietary technology. The company is also pursuing business in Pay-As-How-You-Drive auto insurance, which assesses the premiums as per customer’s driving patterns and behavior through sensor data analytics. In line with the company’s open innovation strategy, Carrot has 100+ national & international partnerships, including South Korean government unit that oversees national highways and traffic controls.
