Building trust remains the core obstacle for Indian insurtech firms, with OneAssist and Servify pioneering different approaches to overcome scepticism, expand beyond their initial categories, and adapt to evolving consumer needs in a competitive market.
Building trust has been the central challenge for insurtech in India, and for OneAssist and Servify it has been the first obstacle to scale. In a category where customers often doubt whether help will arrive at all, the two founders chose different starting points: OneAssist focused on the immediate stress of a broken device, while Servify worked from the product lifecycle itself by partnering with original equipment manufacturers from the outset. Both approaches were built around the same problem, but they reflected different ideas about where trust is actually won.
According to the account published by PayU, the hardest early task was not product design but ecosystem alignment. OneAssist had to persuade insurers and logistics firms to deliver service reliably at the customer’s door, while Servify had to overcome scepticism that anyone would actually turn up after payment. The lesson from both founders was the same: in insurance-linked services, trust has to exist before customers are willing to buy, and before that trust is established, scale remains out of reach.
The two companies then made very different bets. Servify put money into technology from the start and endured three years of losses, a decision that later supported expansion beyond India and beyond smartphones. OneAssist, by contrast, invested in physical retail and began with just 50 stores, betting that proximity to the point of sale would help customers feel more comfortable. The same article says those early choices shaped how each company grew, even if neither path was straightforward.
Not every expansion worked. PayU’s interview recounts how Servify’s move into the US ran into the reality of long-term carrier contracts, undercutting the assumption that a strong technology proposition would be enough on its own. OneAssist also misread its early commercial trajectory, treating signed partners as immediate revenue when conversion in practice took six to nine months. Its first-year plan had to be cut back repeatedly.
The founders said they would make different choices now. OneAssist would build its organisation and technology with data embedded from day one, while Servify would obtain its insurance licence earlier, particularly because compliance can become a bottleneck in Western markets. That fits a wider pattern visible across insurtech: distribution alone is rarely enough, and the economics only work when customer acquisition, servicing and regulation are aligned. Recent coverage by YourStory also shows the sector leaning more heavily on digital workflows, vernacular interfaces and AI-assisted support to widen access and improve confidence among customers and agents.
That broader trust question is not unique to India. Insurtech Digital reported that Swiss Re Institute research has challenged some common assumptions about what drives digital trust, pointing instead to governance, social conditions and innovation levels as key influences. Insurtech News has likewise argued that human agents and mobile operators often remain crucial trust channels, especially in under-served markets. In India, meanwhile, companies such as Policybazaar have been emphasising cybersecurity and data protection as part of the same trust equation, because the digital insurance experience only works when customers feel their personal and financial information is safe.
Now both OneAssist and Servify are looking beyond the categories that first made them relevant. PayU’s interview says OneAssist expects device usage to keep shifting towards voice-first products, where protection could matter even more, while Servify sees a large opportunity in pre-owned devices already sitting in homes and in used cars. LiveMint has separately reported that OneAssist is broadening into home appliances, refurbished phones and other higher-value categories as smartphone growth slows. The direction is clear: the next phase of insurtech is less about selling a promise and more about protecting what consumers already own.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
