Igloo hires Grab senior exec to boost partnerships, products

• Played crucial role in growing Grab’s commercial team
• To drive commercial strategy, expand partnerships, new revenue

​Insurtech firm Igloo announced the appointment of Wilson Tseng as its new chief business officer (CBO).

Reporting to Raunak Mehta, co-founder and chief executive officer, Tseng will be responsible for driving Igloo’s commercial strategy, expanding partnerships with business and insurer partners, as well as identifying and developing new growth opportunities and revenue streams, the company said in a statement.

He will work closely with Igloo’s commercial teams across Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia to enhance business value from existing partnerships.

Through leveraging market trends and industry developments, he will work closely with product, engineering, and insurance teams to facilitate new initiatives, products, and services across all markets and product lines, Igloo said.

Tseng has over 15 years of experience across various industries and has held several leadership positions in Europe and Asia.

With previous senior roles at Grab and Alibaba, Tseng brings valuable commercial strategy, partnerships expansion, and tech experience to support Igloo’s ambitions, it said.

He played a crucial role in growing Grab’s commercial team in the Southeast Asia region, working with multiple partners across Grab’s marketplaces, payments, and ads businesses, it added.

Mehta said the addition of Tseng to Igloo’s leadership team, coupled with the funds raised during its Series B, is timely as the company prepares to further strengthen its position in Southeast Asia while also building an engineering centre and hiring talents in India.

“Tseng brings a wealth of commercial partnerships expertise from a diverse career spanning startups, financial services, and e-commerce. 

“This strategic appointment will help us maximise value creation for our partners as we scale and build rigor and efficiency into our commercial operations," said Mehta.

Tseng said it is an exciting time to join Igloo as it continues its ambitious growth. What attracted me to the role is the team’s drive to always do better, both for its partners and its end customers. 

“Igloo wants to capitalise on the underinsured SEA market by closely working with key partners by using technology to bring the benefits of insurance protection in the most accessible, relevant and easy to adopt way to our consumers.

“I look forward to leveraging my experience to further grow Igloo’s journey and can’t wait to launch new innovative initiatives alongside a fantastic team and partners,” said Tseng.

In 2021, Igloo said it secured over 30 partnerships in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The company claimed its gross written premium tripled during this period and is on track to achieve its goal of facilitating 5% of general insurance premiums in the region over the next five years.

As of 2021, Igloo’s insurance solutions helped underwrite over 75 million policies in Southeast Asia, it said.

Earlier this month, Igloo raised US$19 million (RM79.8 million) in Series B funding led by Cathay Innovation, a global venture capital firm, with participation from ACA and other existing investors including Openspace. This brings Igloo’s total fundraising to over US$36 million (RM151.3 million).