4 top funding announcements by Indian FinTechs in early December 2020

By Edil Corneille

Early December 2020 has witnessed FinTech funding announcements by Indian players in the sector which holds significance in light of the COVID-19 pandemic situation predicted to get better next year in 2021. The situation has not yet completely improved as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has to bounce back in the country. For instance, how are digital payments supposed to grow exponentially when the income in the hands of the consumer is insufficient.

India is amongst the fastest growing FinTech markets in the world with the rise of new and existing FinTech startups paving the way for technological advancements. These players leverage technologies such as data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and open banking, to name a few. The lockdown and social distancing norms have made individuals rely on digital methods to make transactions and for their banking requirements. This is expected to continue post-COVID-19 days as individuals have become more familiar with FinTech. Mentioned below is the list of FinTechs who made funding announcements early this month.

PhonePe

Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, announced a partial spin-off of PhonePe, the digital payments platform in India. Withing four years since its founding, PhonePe crossed the 250 million registered user milestone, with over 100 million monthly active users (MAU) generating nearly a billion digital payment transactions in October 2020.

Recognising the momentum that has been achieved, as well as PhonePe’s significant growth potential, Flipkart’s Board determined that this was the right time to partially spin-off PhonePe so that it can access dedicated capital to fund its long-term ambitions over the next three to four years. The partial spin-off also provides the firm with an opportunity to constitute a new Board of Directors focused on supporting its development, and to create a tailor-made equity incentive or ESOP program for its employees.

It was announced that in the financing round, the digital payments platform was raising USD 700 million in primary capital at a post-money valuation of USD 5.5 billion from existing Flipkart investors led by Walmart. Flipkart will remain PhonePe’s majority shareholder, and the two businesses will retain their close collaboration.

MobiKwik

Indian digital credit platform, MobiKwik, announced that it has raised INR 520 million in a fresh round of funding. The round was led by Hindustan Media Ventures, the investment arm of HT group with participation from Infosys Co-Founder Kris Gopalakrishnan’s family office Pratithi. The fresh capital will be used for growth in all key business segments of the firm – digital credit & cards, consumer payments and payment gateway.

MobiKwik has seen significant traction in its Digital Credit Card business and has pre-approved 15 million users for its credit product, which is availed by users for making payments via the MobiKwik Wallet and the MobiKwik Blue Amex Card. On the back of credit & payments, the firm has doubled its revenue for three successive years and significantly reduced its cash burn to near zero. The company posted INR 3.79 billion in revenues as of the financial year ending March 2020, a growth of 133 per cent yoy.

Fisdom

WealthTech company Fisdom raised USD 7 million in a round of funding led by PayU with participation from existing investors Quona Capital and Saama Capital. The funding will be deployed towards new product development and customer acquisition. The company will also look at acquisition opportunities that would add to its product portfolio.

Fisdom provides a holistic platform for investing in multiple products including mutual funds, insurance, pension funds, digital gold, etc. It helps customers make informed investment decisions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fisdom has seen more than 80 per cent growth in its AUM, demonstrating the trust customers place in the company for their investments. At the same time, the company has continued to sign several new partners such as Indian Bank, Google Pay and SBM Bank.

Fisdom has also expanded its existing team and has on-boarded more than 150 employees virtually during the last 6 months across engineering, sales and operations; including some key hirings done during the last year. The company continues to invest in technology, innovation and expanding the product offering to amplify the investing experience for its customers.

Signzy

Signzy raised an additional USD 3 million in its Series B funding round from Temasek Holdings-owned venture capital fund Vertex Ventures, according to media reports. Signzy is a global no-code AI platform for financial services.

The recent addition has led to the total amount of funding raised to USD 8.4 million. Signzy is looking forward to further strengthening its ‘no-code AI-powered solution’ for digital onboarding, risk automation, and compliance processes as an efficient RegTech company.

Signzy offers digital on-boarding solutions for banks, NBFCs and other financial institutions. Signzy raised USD 5.4 million in October from venture capital firm Arkam Ventures and global payments technology company Mastercard, among others. Signzy believes that through a combination of artificial intelligence and blockchain, it can ensure that digital compliance is convenient as well as secure.

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