5 top Indian FinTech funding rounds announced this Feb 2021

By Edil Corneille

The Indian FinTech sector witnessed interesting funding announcements this February 2021. Digital payments in the country have been instrumental and the growth over the past few years have skyrocketed especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the India FinTech Report 2020 by IBS Intelligence, total digital payment transactions (mwallet, UPI and Prepaid Payment Instruments) in India stood at approximately $270 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to reach approximately $950 billion by 2023, recording a CAGR of 41.1 per cent.

With around 33 deals valued at $647.5 million, India has the highest investment in the FinTech segment compared to China’s $284.9 million during the quarter ended June 30, 2020, according to a research report released by RBSA Advisors. FinTech players leverage technologies such as data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and open banking, to name a few.

With lockdowns and social distancing norms due to COVID-19, individuals have increasingly started relying on digital methods for their banking requirements. This is expected to continue even post the pandemic era as individuals have become more familiar with using FinTech for their financial requirements. This has tremendously increased the significance of FinTech players in India where personalisation of financial services is key. Mentioned below is a list of FinTechs who announced the raise of funding this month.

BharatPe

BharatPe is an Indian financial services company for merchants. The company announced in February the raise of $108 million in its Series D equity round, at a valuation of $900 million. The company further shared that it has raised $90 million in the primary fundraise and also ensured secondary exit for its angel investors and employees for a total amount of $18 million.

Led by existing investor Coatue Management, the round saw participation from all other existing institutional investors – Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo and Sequoia Capital. With this round, the company has raised a total of $268 million in equity and debt to date.

The Series D round got oversubscribed within the last 2 weeks of December 2020. In the Series D round, existing institutional investors showed their intent to consolidate the cap table and hence, BharatPe gave the opportunity to all angels and ESOP holders to liquidate.

KreditBee

FinTech lending startup KreditBee announced the conclusion of its Series C equity round worth $75 Million from Premji Invest, Mirae Asset Naver Asia Growth Fund, Alpine Capital and Arkam Ventures consisting of both primary and secondary investment.

The holding entity previously raised over $43 million cumulatively in equity from marque investors including ICICI Bank and Arkam Ventures. Registered in March 2016, the group entity also holds Krazybee Services Private Limited – a Systemically important non-deposit taking non-banking financial company (NBFC-ND-SI) registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since May 2017.

The current round of fundraise is expected to support the company in its effort to fuel financial inclusion and drive credit uptake in the economy especially for the unserved and underserved segment of the population.

Kinara Capital

Today, socially responsible FinTech, Kinara Capital, announced the securing of $10 million (₹740 million) from IndusInd Bank with a 100% guaranty from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

This is a part of a debt and equity round of ₹1 billion, with equity contribution coming from Kinara’s existing investors – Gaja Capital, GAWA Capital, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) and Patamar Capital. This investment will be utilised by Kinara Capital towards the expansion of MSME financial inclusion across manufacturing, trading, and services sectors in India.

Kinara Capital has disbursed ₹20 billion across over 56,000 collateral-free small business loans. The special $10 million investment for onward lending to small business entrepreneurs will be deployed over five years from IndusInd Bank’s Impact Investing division with full backing from DFC, part of the US federal government.

Siply

Siply, an AI-driven ‘sachet financial services’ platform which currently offers micro-savings, micro-credit, micro-investment and other value added services, raised $1 million in seed funding from investors such as Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) Angel Network and Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), along with a group of CXOs from India and UAE-based angel investors.

With this infusion of funds, Siply will accelerate its technology platform integration with ecosystem players, expand the team and onboard distribution partners. Siply was founded in July 2020 and was started with the vision of creating a more financially inclusive India where Siply helps underserved masses inculcate a savings behaviour to build a more productive and financially secure country.

The platform offers flexibility to its users, who are mostly of limited financial means, and is available in multiple local languages.

EduFund

Startup EduFund raised ₹25 million as part of its pre-seed investment round from ViewTrade, a US-based holding corporation, as mentioned in media reports. ViewTrade was the main investor along with other angel investors from a private syndicate through Angel List.

EduFund provides parents with the means to build an education fund for the child higher studies. The company plans on using the raised funds for product expansion by incorporating more policies to fulfil the financial and educational goals of students.

To keep with the trends of the FinTech industry, the company is aggressively working on its growth trajectory. With the newly acquired funds, the company aims to invest in market acquisition and impactful marketing campaigns which have a greater outreach to parents and students interested in overseas education.

Regulated by SEBI, EduFund is a Registered Investment Advisor in India. The company is said to ensure 100% privacy and confidentiality when it comes to storing personal information of users.