PolicyStreet CEO: Profitability proves our full-stack insurtech model can scale

• Labuan reinsurance strategy has delivered while regional expansion will continue via local partners
• Despite raising less than regional peers, has reached profitability and serves over 10mil customers

Based on publicly announced rounds, PolicyStreet’s latest US$5 million (RM20 million) investment from BlueOrchard has lifted its Series C to US$26 million (RM106 million) and total disclosed funding to more than US$48 million. Significant as it is, it remains modestly funded beside regional peers: Qoala based in Singapore, has raised more than US$130 million, Igloo US$100 million and Sunday, based in Thailand but run by two Malaysian sisters, US$75 million, while Singapore-based bolttech has secured more than US$600 million across three equity rounds. The comparison is not an apple for apple though because their business models differ.

[RM1 = US$0.25]

Nonetheless, that funding gap actually makes PolicyStreet’s progress stand out. The startup turned profitable in FY2025, has served more than 10 million customers, double its 2023 base, and says new capital will accelerate growth rather than prove that its model works.

In an email interview with Digital News Asia, Yen Ming Lee (pic), co-founder and CEO describes PolicyStreet as a “full-stack insurtech”, combining technology, distribution, underwriting and reinsurance rather than operating as an insurance marketplace. He says its decision to establish a Labuan reinsurance business has delivered the intended benefits, by allowing PolicyStreet to develop embedded products for risks conventional insurers may be less willing or equipped to cover.

Regional expansion, however, will remain measured. PolicyStreet enters markets through local insurers and ecosystem partners, as it has done in Hong Kong and Vietnam, instead of establishing a fully-fledged operating company. Yen did not identify which country would become its next full operating market.

He argues that PolicyStreet’s competitive advantage in the crowded embedded-insurance sector lies in integrating underwriting expertise, technology and distribution. AI is being deployed in renewal propensity modelling, document processing and customer service, although PolicyStreet is not yet attributing improvements in loss ratios, acquisition costs or retention to those investments.

With an ambition is to reach 1.5 million gig workers and 300,000 MSMEs by 2030 across its footprint, backed by multiple growth engines spanning consumer insurance, embedded products, employee benefits and reinsurance at scale, the trio of founders have excelled in their execution. Watch this startup.

The following interview has been edited for clarity.

Digital News Asia: PolicyStreet has consistently described Malaysia as its foundation, with regional expansion representing its next phase. You have expanded into Australia and entered markets such as Hong Kong and Vietnam through partnerships. Which market is likely to become your next full operating business, and what milestones are you targeting over the next 12 to 18 months?

Yen: We have always taken a deliberate approach to regional expansion. Every market has its own regulatory environment, distribution dynamics and customer needs, so the right approach depends on where we believe we can create the most value.

Rather than establishing a full operating presence from day one, we typically enter new markets by working with ecosystem partners and local insurers. That is the approach we have taken in markets such as Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Digital News Asia: Establishing your own Labuan reinsurance operation was an unusual and bold move. The idea was that PolicyStreet could retain more of the underwriting economics instead of remaining purely a distributor. Two years on, has the strategy delivered the financial benefits you expected, and has it changed the types of products you are prepared to launch?

Yen: It is fair to say the strategy has delivered what we hoped it would.

Establishing our reinsurance business was never just about taking on risk. It was about giving ourselves the capability to address protection gaps that traditional insurance models were often not designed to serve.

It has enabled us to bring more innovative embedded-insurance solutions to market, particularly in areas where traditional insurers may have a lower risk appetite or where existing products do not fit naturally into the customer journey.

We have never approached the business by saying we will focus on only one category of risk. We start with the protection gap. When there is a meaningful problem to solve and we can develop a commercially sustainable solution that creates real value for customers, that is where we will focus.

Digital News Asia: Embedded insurance has become significantly more crowded since PolicyStreet entered the market. What is your sustainable competitive advantage today—technology, distribution, underwriting through Polisea or scale?

Yen: What differentiates PolicyStreet today is the combination of underwriting expertise, technology and distribution working together.

Take gig-worker protection as an example. Anyone can distribute a standard personal accident policy. Because we combine underwriting with technology, however, we can work with commercial clients and insurers to design solutions that go beyond traditional coverage.

These could include hospital income, professional indemnity, personal-effects protection and other benefits tailored to how gig workers earn a living. The product itself becomes differentiated, rather than only the distribution channel.

Technology is another key part of the equation. Embedded insurance is not simply about placing an insurance product inside an app. It involves integrating protection seamlessly into the customer journey through API integrations, automated enrolment or contextual triggers that activate coverage at the appropriate moment with minimal friction.

Distribution completes the picture. We have built relationships with commercial partners across multiple industries, and that track record gives partners confidence that we can deliver, innovate and scale alongside them.

We do not see technology, underwriting and distribution as separate capabilities. We see them as an integrated ecosystem that allows us to bring better products to market faster and at scale.

Digital News Asia: Your investor base has evolved from venture investors such as Gobi Partners and Altara Ventures to sovereign funds including Khazanah Nasional and Cool Japan Fund, and now impact investor BlueOrchard. Has your definition of success shifted from pure growth towards balancing profitability and measurable social impact?

Yen: Our definition of success has not fundamentally changed because we have never viewed commercial sustainability and social impact as competing priorities.

From the beginning, we believed that solving protection gaps for underserved communities could also form the basis of a strong and sustainable business. Our profitability in FY2025 reinforced that growth and impact can go hand in hand.

Our newer investors have validated that approach rather than changed it. Although our investor base has evolved, we have been fortunate that our investors share a similar long-term perspective.

Digital News Asia: PolicyStreet has deployed AI in underwriting, customer retention, renewal-propensity modelling and other areas. Beyond internal efficiency, where has AI measurably changed your economics/performance?

Yen: AI is an area in which we are investing heavily because we believe it can meaningfully improve how insurance is designed, distributed and serviced.

Over the past year, we have deployed AI across customer renewal-propensity modelling, document processing and customer servicing. We are continuing to scale those capabilities across the business.

We are already seeing improvements in operational efficiency and decision-making, but we are disciplined about how we measure the impact.

Rather than attributing changes in our overall economics to any single initiative, we are focused on validating these capabilities over a longer period as they mature and become more deeply embedded throughout the organisation.

Digital News Asia: PolicyStreet aims to reach 1.5 million gig workers and 300,000 SMEs and MSMEs by 2030. What are the biggest bottlenecks to reaching those targets?

Yen: I do not think there is a single bottleneck because the businesses have fundamentally different scaling dynamics.

For gig workers, scale comes primarily through ecosystem building. Once the right product has been developed and integrated into a commercial partner’s platform, it becomes possible to reach a large number of users seamlessly.

SMEs are different. Embedded partnerships will continue to play an important role in extending our reach, but employee benefits have a more consultative growth model.

Every company has different workforce needs, so adoption naturally happens at a different pace. Success is not only about technology or distribution. It also involves helping employers understand how better employee benefits can support talent attraction, retention and overall business resilience.

Our focus remains on making insurance more affordable, relevant and convenient while building the partnerships, products and capabilities needed to scale sustainably towards our long-term goals.

Digital News Asia: PolicyStreet has raised substantially less than regional competitors such as Qoala, Sunday, bolttech and Igloo, yet it has reached profitability and served more than 10 million customers. Does this demonstrate that you have built a more capital-efficient business?

Yen: It is difficult to compare businesses directly because every company has a different strategy, operating model, market footprint and approach to capital. I would not want to comment on whether one business is more or less capital efficient than another.

What I can say is that we have always been thoughtful about how we deploy capital.

Achieving profitability in FY2025 was not the finish line. It demonstrated that our business model is capable of delivering sustainable growth.

Profitability does not mean that you stop becoming more efficient. It gives you the platform to become even more disciplined in allocating capital, and that is something we continue to focus on every day.

Today, our fundraising is about accelerating growth rather than proving the viability of our business model.

Digital News Asia: How did PolicyStreet double the number of customers it served from five million in 2023 to more than 10 million by the end of 2025?

Yen: The growth was not driven by any single partnership or product. It came from consistently scaling multiple parts of the business over time.

Consumer insurance, embedded insurance, employee benefits and reinsurance all continued to grow at different speeds and were at different stages of maturity. That is by design.

It is the advantage of having multiple growth engines. As some businesses mature and contribute greater scale, others continue building momentum for the future.

This gives us a more diversified business and allows us to keep investing in new opportunities while maintaining sustainable growth.

Digital News Asia: PolicyStreet began as an insurance distributor, evolved into an embedded-insurance platform and later added reinsurance. Following the Series C, you seem to have settled on being a full-stack player. What business do you ultimately want investors to see PolicyStreet as?

Yen: I would describe PolicyStreet as a full-stack insurtech. That is how we have viewed the business for some time because narrowing the protection gap requires capabilities across the insurance value chain, rather than in only one part of it.

Technology, distribution, underwriting and reinsurance are not separate identities for us. They are complementary capabilities that allow us to build better insurance solutions and bring them to market more effectively.

We will continue evolving these capabilities as the market changes, but our mission remains the same: narrowing the protection gap through a full-stack insurtech model.