Kakao Pay Insurance Grows Fast and Cuts Losses as Other Digital Insurers Fold
Kakao Pay Insurance is expanding its product range and narrowing its losses, while other Korean digital insurers are being reabsorbed by their parent companies.
Korea’s early wave of stand-alone digital insurers is receding, with Kyobo Lifeplanet set to be folded into Kyobo Life in April 2027 and Carrot General Insurance already merged into Hanwha General Insurance. In contrast, Kakao Pay Insurance, created in 2022 by the Kakao digital-payments platform, is posting rapid growth. Leveraging roughly 7 million daily Kakao Pay users, it offers travel, mobile, infant, child, health and pet policies through KakaoTalk and Kakao Pay, eliminating traditional agents and commissions.
Gross written premiums reached 25.6 billion won in Q2, more than double the previous year, and first-half revenue jumped 82.6% to a record 44 billion won, while the net loss narrowed to 17.5 billion won. The company attributes the turnaround to the completion of heavy initial system and infrastructure spending and tighter cost control. COO Han Soon-wook said the firm expects to clarify its break-even timeline soon and will keep adding products based on user demand rather than short-term profit motives.
Why it matters
It shows how a platform-based insurer can grow profitably while other digital insurers struggle in Korea.
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