True North sells Policy Bazaar stake to Serum Institute, four others

Private equity fund manager True North said today that it has sold a part of its holding in PolicyBazaar to five buyers – Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust, Triumph Global Holdings, Serum Institute of India, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund Series 8 and India Acorn Fund.

In October 2020, True North had the first tranche of its stake sale in the company. It continues to be invested in the company for its next phase of growth.

True North disclosed neither the quantum of stake sold nor the value.

PolicyBazaar turned into a unicorn after Softbank led an over $200 million financing in the company in 2018. The company is gearing up for IPO and likely to file papers for IPO next month.

Poonawallas, the founders of Serum Institute, have been increasing their play in financial services recently. Last month they bought 60 per cent in Magma Fincorp. After the deal, the existing financial services business of Poonawalla Finance is proposed to be consolidated into Magma Fincorp.

Serum Institute played a key role in manufacturing of Covishield, a vaccine against Covid 19 virus and used in many countries. Developed by Oxford University and Swedish-British pharma major AstraZeneca, Covishield is being manufactured by SII.

Divya Sehgal, Partner, True North, stated “We’ve had a great partnership with PolicyBazaar over the last three years. We are extremely pleased with the company’s sustained growth momentum and efficiency in delivering great results in spite of the challenging market conditions. We will continue to support PolicyBazaar as it heads towards public markets in the next 12-15 months and scripts many more success stories.”