Russia’s Raxel Telematics makes Singapore its home, has big plans

By A. Asohan August 16, 2016

Is moving all business ops here, part of R&D and engineering too
Its technology helps insurance and transport companies weigh driver risk

Russia’s Raxel Telematics makes Singapore its home, has big plans

RUSSIAN-founded Raxel Telematics has made Singapore its global headquarters, and has even moved all its business development operations to the city-state and is now a Singaporean company.

The company, founded in 2013 by a team of Russian physicists and mathematicians, collects data on individual driving behaviour, then applies in-depth analysis to that data.

Such data is widely used in the usage-based insurance (UBI) industry, transport (including taxi services) and logistics, to assess the safety of drivers, it said in a statement.

Raxel Telematics’ business has so far come from Central and Eastern Europe – with clients such as AXA and Liberty Mutual Insurance – but the opening of the Singapore office is part of its regional and global expansion plan.

“Our 2015 revenue of US$1 million came from Central and Eastern Europe only, but for 2016, we expect significant revenue growth and at least 30% of it to be from South-East Asia,” said chief executive officer Dmitry Rudash.

Along with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand would be a top priority for the company, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam, he told Digital News Asia (DNA) via email.

“In just a few months we have created a pipeline the size of several million dollars, and have already signed partnership deals with insurance and transport companies,” Rudash claimed.

“We are opening the head office in Singapore to support these signed deals, and develop the product and business closer to our clients,” he added.

Raxel Telematics said it analyses more than 20 factors to assess risks related to driving, and provides its clients – mainly insurance and transport companies – with detailed analytics and measurable risk estimates of drivers.

Citing Ptolemus Consulting Group, it said about 12 million drivers worldwide use telematics-based insurance policies. By 2020 over 100 million cars will be insured with telematics technology, and the revenue via telematics insurance premiums is expected to reach US$56 billion in 2020.

The Asia Pacific market itself is poised to grow exponentially, reaching US$5.5 billion in insurance premiums by 2020.

“We consider South-East Asia to be a key market for telematics technology, with huge opportunities and one of the world’s highest growth rates,” said Rudash.

“According to our estimates, [South-East Asia] will rapidly grow and achieve US$2 billion in insurance premiums by 2020,” he said in an official statement.

Raxel Telematics is a portfolio company of Phystech Ventures, a Russian-founded international early stage venture capital (VC) firm focused on high-tech companies specialising in the Internet of Things, education technology, connected platforms, cybersecurity, energy, oil and gas, and new materials.

Phystech Ventures’ current portfolio includes Dash Labs, Tortuga Logic, AT Energy and Geosteering Technologies.

Its team of advisors and partners includes Serguei Beloussov, founder and chief executive officer of data backup and protection company Acronis, which itself moved its international headquarters to Singapore in 2014.

The Russian-born Beloussov has since become a Singaporean citizen.

Raxel Telematics currently has offices in Russia and Ukraine, where its 28-strong research and development (R&D) and engineering teams are located.

With its global headquarters now in Singapore, Raxel Telematics said it will concentrate all business-related departments, including business development and sales and operations, and partially relocate the engineering team to the city-state.

It is also looking to hire local professionals to join the team, in roles such as business development and sales for Asia Pacific, as well as machine learning analysts.

“We are targeting to hire five to six new people and relocate major executives to Singapore by the end of 2016,” Rudash told DNA.

“This is more about quality than quantity – we are VC-funded company and have the luxury to attract the best people to our team,” he added.