Not too long ago Kerala-based fintech startup Open Monetary Applied sciences reached a US$1 billion valuation after closing a US$50 million Collection D funding spherical. The spherical took Open Monetary Applied sciences to unicorn standing, becoming a member of India’s different 15 billion greenback fintech startups.
Based in 2017, Open Monetary Applied sciences is a high-growth neobanking startup serving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The corporate operates three primary manufacturers: Open, a enterprise banking platform for SMEs; OpenBook, a digital banking platform for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India; and Zwitch, a no-code embedded finance platform.
Open Monetary Applied sciences’ US$50 million funding spherical, which was led by Mumbai-headquartered IIFL Finance and included participation from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, US hedge fund Tiger World, and others, will likely be used to ramp up its management crew and improve its headcount from 500 to 1,000 inside the yr.
The corporate can also be gearing up for the launch of three information merchandise within the SME lending house: Open Flo, a revenue-based financing product for e-commerce companies; Open Settl, an early settlement credit score providing; and Open Capital, a working capital lending providing. It has plans to increase internationally, concentrating on Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.
Open claims over 2.3 million SMEs on its platform, and says it is without doubt one of the fastest-growing SME-focused neobanking startup on the planet, recording over 20,000 new SMEs becoming a member of its platform each month.
The success skilled by Open Monetary Applied sciences is reflective of the rise India’s fintech business has witnessed these previous years, amid fast digital adoption and COVID-19 restrictions.
To assist these startups’ development, traders ramped up their investments considerably in 2021, pouring U$4.6 billion in corporations within the sector within the first eight months of the yr, information from Inc24, a Indian media platform, present. The sum represents 5.8 instances what was raised the identical interval the earlier yr.
Indian fintech funding, Supply: Inc24
India’s billion greenback fintech startups
Booming funding exercise within the fintech sector in 2021 pushed valuations to new heights, turning a document of ten fintech startups into unicorns:
- CRED (now valued US$4.01 billion), a bank card and rewards startup which reached a US$2.2 billion valuation after elevating a US$215 million Collection D in April 2021;
- Digit Insurance coverage (now valued US$4 billion), an insurtech startup that reached a billion greenback valuation after an undisclosed quantity of funding in January 2021;
- Upstox (now valued US$3.4 billion), a inventory broking platform which closed US$24.7 million spherical in November 2021 at a US$3 billion valuation;
- Groww, a wealth administration startup that tripled its valuation to US$3 billion after closing a US$251 million spherical in October 2021;
- BharatPe, a service provider funds and monetary companies supplier which raised US$370 million in August 2021 at a US$2.85 billion valuation;
- CoinDCX (now valued at US$2.15 billion), a cryptocurrency alternate that reached a US$1.1 billion valuation after closing a US$90 million Collection C funding spherical;
- CoinSwitch Kuber, India’s largest crypto alternate which raised US$290 million at a valuation of US$1.9 million in October 2021;
- Acko Common Insurance coverage, an insurtech startup that reached a US$1.1 billion valuation after closing a US$255 million spherical;
- MobiKwik, a cost companies supplier, which reached unicorn standing after a secondary transaction in October 2021; and
- Slice, a bank card startup that closed a US$220 million spherical at a US$1 billion valuation in November 2021.
The momentum is continuous this yr with already three fintech startups reaching a billion greenback valuation in simply the primary 4 months of 2022. In addition to Open Monetary Applied sciences, these fintech startups which have joined the unicorns are:
- CredAvenue, a one-stop store for enterprise debt that raised US$137 million at a US$1.3 billion valuation in March 2022; and
- Oxyzo, the monetary companies arm of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce agency OfBusiness, which closed a US$200 million Collection A in March 2022 at a US$1 billion valuation.
The 13 fintech startups that reached unicorn standing in 2021 and 2022 joined the three corporations that made it into the listing again in 2020: Zerodha, a inventory dealer; Razorpay, a cost gateway for on-line funds now valued at US$7.5 billion; and Pine Labs, a service provider platform firm offering financing and last-mile retail transaction expertise valued at US$5 billion.
Along with the large enlargement of its unicorn membership, India additionally noticed various high-profile exits in 2021. These included the acquisition of BillDesk, a cost gateway that went for US$4.7 billion, and the general public listings of One 97 Communications, the operator of Paytm, one of many nation’s largest cell wallets, in addition to PB Fintech, the guardian of insurance coverage aggregator Policybazaar.com and digital client credit score market Paisabazaar.com.
Featured picture credit score: Edited from Pexels
