Varun Dua Net Worth 2024: A Comprehensive Guide

India tops the list of FinTech adoption in the world. It is expected to be worth $150 billion by 2025. Insurance companies thus have greater opportunities in India. With the aid of technology, insurance companies can optimise distribution costs and provide algorithms for personalised pricing. Navigating a similar opportunity, Varun Dua founded Acko.

Varun Dua is a seasoned entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Acko General Insurance. It is India’s one of the leading insurtech companies. He is revolutionising the insurance horizon with an innovative perspective. Varun said, “If you want to transform plumbing, you will have to manufacture it.” He is a serial FinTech owner. Before Acko, he was serving as the CEO of one of India’s top online insurance aggregators, Coverfox. He started Acko in 2016. Interestingly, investors invested $30 million in Acko just on the basis of his proven records. Currently, Varun Dua net worth is almost $1 billion.

Dua’s net worth growth is a consequence of his wise investments, profitable commercial moves, ability to seize opportunities, and Acko’s success. Read on to learn about Acko, Varun Dua, his education, career trajectory, and net worth in detail. His sharp business acumen and strong work ethic are worth the praise.

Varun Dua’s Education and Early Life

Varun Dua, founder and CEO of Acko, was born on February 25, 1981, in Delhi. His father’s name is Mohan Dua. He was inspired by Prannay Roy and wanted to become a news anchor as a kid.

• Varun Dua education came from the University of Mumbai. He completed his B. Com. there and pursued an MBA from MICA, Gujarat.
• Dua worked as a trainee at Leo Burnett Advertising in 2002. He managed an insurance project there. While working on his project, Varun contacted one of the employees at TATA AIG.
• Later, he got a job opportunity from TATA AIG, which he accepted immediately. So, he switched to TATA AIG Life Insurance in 2003 and served as a marketing manager. He worked for four years at TATA and left the company in 2007.
• Then, he started working at Franklin Templeton Investments as a Marketing Manager. He worked for a year before he left.

Then, he decided to give his career a break. During this period, he met Devendar Rane. He was an IT Engineer from IIT Mumbai. Varun had a knack for handling insurance and its products till then. On the other hand, Devendar was good at IT.  Thus, they together came up with an idea to integrate IT and insurance.

Both of them founded Glitterbug Technologies in 2010. Dua turned this business into an online insurance brokerage platform, Coverfox, in 2014. Coverfox solved buying and traffic problems in the insurance industry. However, pricing was still a problem.

He analysed that Coverfox is a portal for brokers, and they cannot become insurers. Thus, he decided to launch Acko in 2016. Finally, he managed to raise $30 million during the pre-revenue phase for the ACKO project.

Varun Dua’s Wiki and Career Trajectory

Before establishing Acko General Insurance, Varun Dua worked on another venture. After understanding the need for a streamlined insurance process, he established Coverfox, a digital insurance aggregation platform.

This digital insurance portal provides a seamless comparison of insurance products. It comprises diverse insurance product purchases and management. Therefore, it eliminates complex paperwork and enhances user convenience. With the mantra of “acting rapidly and damaging things,” Dua pioneered an insurance marketplace online in India in 2013. People accepting the platform made Coverfox set new benchmarks for efficiency and accessibility.

He built a better business landscape and efficient product management. Be it Coverfox and Acko, he acquired much praise for transforming the insurance market. In an interview with StartUp Talky, Varun Dua said,

“I started off not really clear about what I wanted to do, but I definitely didn’t want to do what I was doing.”

Although Varun Dua had just learned and worked in the insurance industry by chance, the universe had already manifested it for him. He was progressively pulled into the insurance world and learned everything there. He understood the insurance market of India and its intricate inner workings. He never dreamt of building his own business empire from the very beginning.

ACKO’s Business Operations

ACKO is an insurtech firm that uses a D2C strategy. It uses a digital web platform to market traditional insurance services, which makes risk selection and underwriting much easier. ACKO General Insurance offers a unique blend of insurance solutions and tech.

From rider insurance, ticket cancellation, and mobile and appliance protection to vehicle, bike, and health insurance, ACKO gives a wide range of options to customers. Acko has already partnered with 15+ digital firms. These firms include Ola, OYO, RedBus, Zomato, Urban Company, HDB Financial Services, and others.

In a Varun Dua interview, he added, “Our focus on creating customised solutions will create the demand we are looking for, thus eliminating the need to hard-sell and invest a lot on a distributing network,”

Varun Dua as a Founder of Acko General Insurance

While working on the project, Coverfox, Dua found a market gap in the investment market. He analysed the insurance landscape as lacking systematic policies and active claims processes. Moreover, the insurance ecosystem is not customer-centric. Dua wanted to make a revolutionary move in India’s insurance market. Thus, he and his co-founder, Ruchi Deepak, laid the foundation of Acko in 2016. This was a significant disruption in India’s insurance horizon.

Varun Dua started Acko with the mission – Insurance made easy with zero commission and zero paperwork. To make it more catchy, he built the company campaign, named – “Full Paisa Vasool”, or complete value for money.

ACKO’s digital platform came with his domain, ACKO.com. Dua revolutionised insurance procurement through Acko. He empowered his customers to purchase various insurance products directly. Acko served its customers through customised pricing. This ultimately bypassed traditional intermediaries.

Acko’s Significant Growth

Varun Dua successfully identified India’s insurance market gap. The amazing traction of this gave Acko unicorn status in 2021. It secured the 34th position in India’s unicorn list that year. This milestone was realised through a Series D funding round spearheaded by General Atlantic and Multiples PE, which raised an impressive $255 million.

Acko’s funding round has been closed at a valuation of $1.1 billion. Its investors have gleefully strengthened their confidence in its digital model. This funding round was backed by notable investors, including CPPIB, Lightspeed Growth, Intact Ventures, and Munich Re Ventures. Their participation reaffirmed their commitment to Acko.

ACKO’s early investors were as prominent as the latest. Its early investors were Amazon India, Accel and Elevation Capital. Other notable investors were industry stalwarts like Binny Bansal, N.R. Murthy, and Kris Gopalakrishnan. This diverse support demonstrates the acclaim Acko earned through its innovative approach to insurance.

Financial Position

ACKO claimed remarkable financial growth in the year 2022.  Its annual revenue soared from ₹475.3 crore in 2021 to ₹1,087.5 crore in 2022. This impressive increment in revenue was mostly compelled by Acko’s robust health insurance sales.

But it hasn’t been all rosy for ACKO. Despite its phenomenal revenue growth, Acko’s losses also soared exponentially from ₹132.5 crore to ₹382 crore. Interestingly, this happened over the same period. So, ACKO’s strategic decision to prioritise expansion over immediate profitability displayed its unwavering commitment to long-term growth and market dominance.

What is Varun Dua’s Net Worth?

Acko Varun Dua’s recent valuation of $1.1 billion made it a unicorn. The funding was raised under General Atlantic and Multiples Alternate Asset Management Private Limited.

Varun Dua net worth also depends on his investment. He has invested in a total of 9 rounds. He raised the latest investment in Tohands. It was an Angel Round on March 01, 2024. Some of the best companies in his investment portfolio include Kuvera, Dezerv, and BNC. Its prominent investments come from consumer, retail and ten more sectors.

His investments are primarily in Retail, Consumer, and 10 other sectors. Here is a list of Varun Dua’s latest investments.           

Company	Sector	Round	Round Amount	Co-investors
Tohands	Retail	Angel	$72.4K	Radhika Gupta
Moxie Beauty	Retail	Seed	$669K	Amplify Partners, OTP Ventures Partners
Infinyte Club	FinTech	Series A	$3.52M	Elevation Capital, Well-found
Vaaree	Retail	Seed	$581K	Kunal Shah, Ghazal Alagh

Varun Dua recently got featured on Shark Tank India Season 3. His presence has positively impacted the traffic growth on Acko’s website since last year. A lot more people became interested in Dua’s story, which has led to Acko gaining popularity recently. Varun Dua’s presence has also enhanced his entrepreneurial success and financial resources. By investing in aspiring entrepreneurs, Dua aims to contribute to India’s economic growth and empower them to run out of the mill.

Varun Dua – An Inspirational Figure

Varun Dua net worth demonstrates not only his business skills but also the success of his startup – Acko General Insurance. He has indeed built his name in the cutthroat insurance market. His excellent revenue streams in Acko helped him bag a total funding of $458 million. He made this happen over 6 consecutive funding rounds.

Acko has received several recognitions around the country. It was honoured with the ‘Most Innovative Insurer Category in Non-Life Segment’ at the FICCI Insurance Industry Awards 2020. In February 2021, it was also awarded the ‘Best Insutech Company’ at the BW Festival of Fintech.Acko’s digital-only model has already impacted 78 million unique customers. Additionally, it has issued one billion insurance policies. With a positive outlook, Acko will revolutionize the insurance market manifold. Total insurance premiums are going to scale up by 7.1% in India by 2028.

ACKO looks forward to scaling up its insurance offerings in the future. The company is also considering entering the health insurance domain and trying to expand its team by adding more employees.

Check out our resources to learn more about Varun Dua and other inspirational identities. 

Also Read:

Success Stories of Indian Entrepreneurs you cannot miss!

Entrepreneurship in India- Complete History, evolution, and Transformation

Frequently Asked Questions: