On the day Qoala announced its US$65 million Series B in May 2022, the headline number was less interesting than the sentence beside it: the company said it had grown thirty times since its Series A, which closed in April 2020. That is two years, a pandemic, and a business that sold insurance, a product people usually avoid.
Qoala was launched in 2018 by Harshet Lunani, who became CEO, and Tommy Martin, who became COO and later deputy CEO. What is documented is the model: car, bike, home and health insurance sold through partners and an omnichannel platform, not through a mountain of agents.
Martin has said the acquisition tripled Qoala's business in that country after he joined.
The Series B was led by Eurazeo, with Flourish Ventures, KB Investment, MassMutual Ventures, MDI Ventures, SeedPlus and Sequoia Capital India all taking part.
Then came a quieter move. In February 2021 the company bought FairDee in Thailand. Martin has said the acquisition tripled Qoala's business in that country after he joined. It was an early sign that the company meant to grow by buying distribution, not only by building it.
In March 2023 Qoala completed a Series B+ of US$7.5 million, led by responsAbility, and said that gross written premiums had doubled since the Series B. The extension was small by comparison with the main round, and arrived in a year when many Asian startups could not raise at all.
The fund-raising pattern is the point. Qoala took money from reinsurance-adjacent and insurer-backed investors, which is exactly who a young insurer needs on its side. For a founder in a regulated field, the lesson is that your investors are also your credibility with the regulator and the partners who will sell your product.
What remains unknown is the human story: the moment Lunani and Martin first decided to build it. When that surfaces in an interview, it will be worth more than any funding figure.