The Singaporean insurtech embeds fractionalized premiums into ride-hailing and delivery apps, partnering with ZhongAn to reach 30,000 active users today.

PolicyPal’s Embedded-Insurance Model: Bite-Sized Cover for Superapp Users

PolicyPal breaks down complex insurance products into small, niche offerings with smaller ticket sizes, enabling users to purchase coverage incrementally through the apps they already use daily. Rather than requiring large one-time premiums typical of traditional insurance, the platform allows small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access monthly premium products that fit tighter budgets. According to CEO and founder Val Jihsuan Yap, “SMEs can’t spend money on a big premium in one go,” a constraint PolicyPal addresses by offering carriers the ability to experiment with fractionalized, subscription-based coverage on its network.

The company positions itself as a partner that helps insurers digitalize their processes, moving legacy carriers into a world where distribution happens inside ride-hailing and delivery apps rather than through agents or call centers. This approach shifts the competitive dynamic away from price-only comparisons typical of aggregators, focusing instead on managing coverage for SMEs and generating new premium streams for insurers.

Grab Partnership: The Superapp as Distribution Channel

PolicyPal’s most significant distribution partnership is with Grab, the Singapore-based superapp that operates across 336 cities and has logged over 130 million downloads across Southeast Asia. Grab partnered with Shanghai-based ZhongAn, China’s first internet-based insurer, to launch a digital insurance marketplace accessible directly through the ride-hailing app. The marketplace offers products across multiple categories with fractionalized premiums delivered directly to users in-app, according to a company statement.

Grab president Ming Maa described the insurance platform launch as “part of our commitment to becoming the leading everyday superapp in the region.” The company’s expansion trajectory mirrors a broader superapp trend documented across the industry: ride-hailing platforms are systematically adding food delivery, parcel delivery, grocery delivery, financial services, and now insurance to increase customer engagement and reduce churn. Wayne Xu, vice general manager of ZhongAn, noted that the partnership leverages ZhongAn’s five years of experience providing protection against daily-life risks, accumulated across over 300 Internet ecosystem partners.

Industry analysts observe that bundling transport, food delivery, and insurance within a single app reduces customer friction and increases platform engagement. The data collected on spending habits and buying preferences enables customized insurance offerings, with machine learning and automation opening new revenue streams for tech companies, according to Mondato analysis. Superapp integration allows companies to optimize pricing and build both trust and customer dependence.

Current Metrics and Regional Expansion Target

PolicyPal today reports approximately 50,000 total registered users in Singapore, of which 30,000 are active. The company’s stated goal is to reach 250,000 active users in Singapore while simultaneously finding insurance clients in neighboring markets. The expansion strategy leverages digital adoption driven by technology companies like Grab, which Yap believes benefits the entire insurtech ecosystem: “Another technology company means more digital adoption, so it’s not just us.”

Users (thousands)Source: Orionmano Industries

Competitive Landscape: Bite-Sized vs. Aggregator Models

PolicyPal’s closest competition comes from online insurance comparison sites such as SingaporeSaver and GoBear. These platforms compete primarily on price for basic products, a strategy that tends to favor simple, commoditized coverage. PolicyPal differentiates by managing coverage for SMEs and actively generating premiums for insurers, while helping carriers digitalize their back-end processes.

Yap acknowledges that for certain categories—specifically flight delay insurance—there will be direct competition based on nimbleness in working with partners and consumers. However, she maintains that “the market is big enough” for both competition and collaboration. The broader insurtech landscape remains dominated by firms with traditional business models, giving embedded-insurance players like PolicyPal room to grow without immediate head-to-head conflict.

Implications for the Superapp Economy

PolicyPal’s success in embedding insurance into Grab’s superapp carries significance beyond Singapore’s borders. Industry experts predict that ride-hailing platforms will evolve into mobility superapps with integrated services, driven by demand for convenience and all-in-one digital solutions. inDrive chief ride-hailing officer Evgenia Matrosova stated that “the way forward for ride-hailing platforms is to evolve into mobility superapps,” with users wanting diverse mobility solutions, safety functions, and seamless digital payments in a single platform.

The data these platforms accumulate—spending habits, travel patterns, food preferences, and delivery frequency—can be leveraged to underwrite customized insurance products with far more precision than traditional underwriting models. As noted by Mondato analysts, customer databases themselves will become extremely valuable as avenues to monetization diversify over time. For the estimated 70% of Southeast Asia’s adult population that remains underinsured or uninsured, embedded, bite-sized insurance delivered through superapps may represent the most viable path to coverage.

PolicyPal’s target of 250,000 active users in Singapore alone, if achieved, would validate a distribution model that could accelerate regional adoption of on-demand, fractionalized insurance across ride-hailing and delivery ecosystems, potentially reshaping how insurers reach some of the world’s most underserved insurance markets.