Neobanking fintech Jupiter has been awarded a non-banking financial company license by Reserve Bank of India, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to BQ Prime on the condition of anonymity.
An NBFC license could help the neobank scale its digital lending operations and also earn a better return on them, by leveraging its own balance sheet as opposed to relying on other NBFCs, the person quoted above said. Jupiter currently offers its users payday loans, titled “On Demand Salary”, in partnership with peer-to-peer lending platform Liquiloans.
Since launching in June 2021, Jupiter has garnered 2.2 million users.
Gaining the NBFC license follows Jupiter's January venture debt fundraise of Rs 100 crore from Alteria Capital, which was geared towards the firm's plans to get its hands on an NBFC license, BQ Prime reported earlier.
The Economic Times first reported that Jupiter has been awarded an NBFC license by RBI. The neobanking firm also plans to capitalise the lending business with around Rs 100 crore and raise an additional Rs 100 crore in debt to fund the NBFC's credit operations, the report stated quoting Jitendra Gupta, chief executive officer of Jupiter.
Jupiter did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the development.
The neobank has raised a total of $167 million (Rs 1,368.7 crore on current exchange rate) in funding since being founded in 2019 and has been backed by marquee investors such as Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India. The fintech firm raked in revenues of Rs 19.2 crore in FY22, against expenses worth Rs 183 crore. Of the total revenue, Jupiter's revenue from operations stood at Rs 41.8 lakh, according to Jupiter's latest public financials.
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