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Igloo CEO eyes global M&A: ‘We have an appetite to grow more’
Falling token prices have not made AI cheaper to run, as tasks grow more complex. Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta told Tech in Asia that each new partnership now goes live at a lower cost, and set out what comes next: weather and cyber cover, life insurance with Chubb, and acquisitions beyond Southeast Asia. “If all [goes] well, you’ll probably see us doing more transactions across the world,” he said.
Caught in the rain? DANA users can now get an insurance payout
Parametric insurance has mostly protected farmers against drought and flood, but thanks to Igloo and DANA, everyday consumers can now benefit from it when rain ruins their night out. DANA Rain Protection costs IDR 500 and pays IDR 50,000 automatically when satellite data shows at least 2.5mm of rain, with no claim form. Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta called it proof that Igloo’s technology can make “something useful but niche, mainstream”.
SG insurtech Igloo, Dana launch weather insurance in Indonesia
With insurance penetration in Indonesia at 2.7%, Tech in Asia placed Igloo and DANA’s launch within insurers’ push into digital distribution. DANA Rain Protection is built into DANA’s QRIS payment flow. A 500 rupiah (US$0.028) policy pays 50,000 rupiah when satellite data shows 2.5mm of rain at the user’s location, with no paperwork or human review, adding parametric cover to five insurance products already in the DANA app.
Binance deal gives Circle a boost in stablecoin race with Tether, analysts say
Binance has taken a US$100 million stake in Circle, and monthly USDC trading on the exchange has roughly doubled since the pair partnered in December 2024. CoinDesk asked three analysts whether that dents Tether’s lead. Gravity Team Co-Founder and CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis saw more pressure on USDT, while pointing to Tether’s years of deep trading pairs, local liquidity and user habit. “But distribution alone won’t change that overnight,” he said.
SoFi tie-up shows stablecoins can provide alternative blockchain settlement rail
SoFi now settles its Mastercard transactions in its own stablecoin, and Visa’s settlement pilot was running at a US$7 billion annualised rate by April. Gravity Team Co-Founder and CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis told Cointelegraph he wouldn’t call it disintermediation at this stage, as banks and card networks still manage the transaction. As for businesses, he said, “They’ll care that settlement is available when they need it and that the money arrives.”
Last to board: why travel may be AI’s final frontier
Only 2% of travel executives say agentic AI is widely deployed, according to McKinsey. In a Tech in Asia feature run by The Business Times, Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta said AI agents need inventory, pricing and policies in formats they can read before they work reliably across travel. “Not every hotel booking, not every flight booking, tends to have the same terms and conditions associated,” he said.
Circle’s $400M Tazapay deal buys emerging market links that take ‘years to build’
Circle’s reported US$400 million acquisition of Singapore-based Tazapay buys the licences, banking relationships and local payout rails that turn a stablecoin into money people can spend. CoinDesk opened its analysis with Gravity Team Co-Founder and CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis, who read the deal as “the latest signal that stablecoins’ next battleground is in emerging markets”, where those networks are built “market by market, relationship by relationship”.
AI & Me: How is AI changing the way we buy and use insurance?
Insurers already use AI to assess claims and flag fraud, and the next question is how much of the buying journey it will take on. On MONEY FM 89.3’s Reset with Lynlee, in the AI & Me segment, Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta discussed how AI is changing the way people buy and use insurance, and where humans still need to be involved.
Q&A with Igloo CEO Raunak Mehta: AI Drives Insurance Revenue Growth of Up to 50%
Insurance penetration across Southeast Asia still trails its fast-digitising middle class. In a Q&A with Bisnis Indonesia, Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta said growth in Indonesia, Igloo’s largest market, comes only from products built around local risks, from weather index cover to protection for hacked e-wallets. “If you keep making the same products as existing insurers, I don’t think you will be able to capture the market,” he said.
Asian business succession crisis demands new approach to small buyouts
Singapore is an ageing, SME-dominated economy where 21% of the population is already over 65. Timah Partners Founder and CEO Dennis Chua told Mergermarket that private equity’s usual majority-stake model ignores the real problem, that the seller is old, and set out how Timah’s evergreen structure and CEO Succession Programme address it. “You almost have to have the CEO there, even to get the seller to agree,” he said.
Igloo Research: Most Indonesian Travellers Buy Travel Insurance at the Last Minute
Indonesian awareness of travel insurance has grown since the pandemic, while take-up still trails other countries. Fortune Indonesia reported Igloo’s explanation: buyers get little guidance comparing products across insurers and little help outside office hours, and 30% buy on the day they travel. Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta said: “This shows that the customer journey has to be short enough to understand and finish on a mobile device in just a few minutes.”
Travel Insurance Becomes a Last-Minute Choice for Indonesian Travellers
Domestic travellers in Indonesia buy travel insurance about a day before they leave; international travellers allow six. Investor Daily reported the gap from Igloo’s 2025 data, which found 67% of policies are bought within a week of departure. Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta said: “Last-minute travel insurance purchases show that people have not yet made travel protection part of their trip planning.”
Can Singapore’s AI start-ups build lasting businesses?
Singapore drew 94% of Southeast Asia’s venture funding in the first half of 2026, and investors now want proof that AI start-ups can stay useful as model providers add features. Tin Men Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Jeremy Tan told The Edge Singapore a start-up’s defence lies in proprietary data, industry expertise, distribution and customer relationships. “None of these are things that a model provider adds in a release,” he said.
The Travel Destinations with the Most and Least Expensive Insurance Premiums
Japan accounts for 26% of the international travel policies Indonesians buy through Igloo, and at US$32 a policy it costs less to insure than Europe, at US$50. Medcom.id used Igloo’s 2025 data to map what Indonesians pay to protect their trips, from domestic journeys at around US$10 to long-haul routes. Medical cover, chosen by 92% of customers, comes first wherever they go.
Indonesians Increasingly Aware of Travel Insurance, but Only Buy It on the Day of Departure
Repeat buyers of travel insurance in Indonesia pay 31% higher premiums than first-timers and buy 18 days before departure, against 12. Bisnis Indonesia used Igloo’s 2025 transaction data to argue that speed of distribution has become central to sales, since 30% of policies are bought on the day of travel. Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta said last-minute buying shows that “people do not plan their travel protection”.
Igloo Research: Most Indonesian Consumers Buy Travel Insurance Close to Departure
Wednesday is the busiest day for Indonesian travel insurance sales, 6pm to 8pm the busiest hours and QR codes the most common way to pay, Katadata reported from Igloo’s 2025 data. The median buyer purchases two days before leaving, so the journey has to finish on a phone in minutes. “This insight has shaped our latest AI feature,” said Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta, a chat-based agent that guides customers to purchase.
Igloo Survey: 92% of Travel Insurance Buyers Put Medical Protection First
Covid-19 cover, once the best-selling feature of Indonesian travel insurance, is now chosen by just 23% of buyers, while 92% pick medical care. Kontan reported the shift from Igloo’s study of a year of sales on igloo.co.id. Igloo Co-Founder and CEO Raunak Mehta said timing matters as much as cover: “They buy it when they remember, usually at night, or even right on the day of departure.”
Stablecoin payments are fast, but local-currency settlement remains a bottleneck: Gravity Team CEO
A stablecoin can cross a border in seconds, but the payment is only complete once it becomes local currency the recipient can spend. As Gravity Team launched its institutional OTC desk, Co-Founder and CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis told crypto.news the test is whether the whole transfer arrives at the quoted price and on time. “Stablecoin payment infrastructure is a liquidity story because stablecoin balances serve very different jobs,” he said.
Gravity Team rolls out institutional OTC desk for digital asset liquidity
Specialist trading publication FOW (Derivia) covered Gravity Team’s emerging-markets OTC desk launch: an institutional OTC desk that pairs the algorithmic trading firm’s digital asset liquidity with direct local banking relationships in more than 20 markets, so it can settle in the destination market instead of routing through the correspondent chain.
Stablecoin legs settle in under 60 seconds, with same-day (T+0) fiat settlement where local banking conditions allow. Co-Founder and CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis said at launch that most institutions can find liquidity, and that the harder task is moving money quickly across the right jurisdictions.
‘You need to have great barriers to entry’: More VC firms expand into deep tech as AI reshapes startup investing
Venture funding in Singapore fell 34% to US$4.6 billion in 2025, and more generalist VC firms are moving into deep tech. Tin Men Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Murli Ravi told The Business Times the firm has extended further into frontier tech, backing Pints AI and Tau, and that founders will now avoid investors who do not understand the science. “There are opportunities for folks who have been consistent,” he said.
