The financial technology space remains the blue-eyed boy of the startup ecosystem in India with funding deals heavily skewed in its favour. So far this year, Indian fintech startups have raised $357 million across 39 transactions, according to the ‘Pulse of Fintech' report from CB Insights and KPMG.
The top three fintech deals of the year include a $60-million fund raising by Paytm's parent company One97 Communications Ltd., a $40-million fund-raising by MobiKwik and the acquisition of Citrus Pay by online payments company PayU for $130 million.
The list of fintech startups that raised funding in the last one week may be less well-known names, but each are based on interesting business propositions and have been duly rewarded by investors.
KrazyBee To Raise $3 Million In Pre-Series A Funding
Bengaluru-based student micro-loan based platform KrazyBee has received a commitment of $3 million in pre-Series A funding. The funding round was led by Beijing-based Plum Ventures and a few other unnamed investors, co-founder Wan Hong told BloombergQuint.
Existing investors, venture capital fund Cybercarrier and Chinese micro-loan and e-commerce player Fenqile also participated in this round.
The firm, which is currently present in Bengaluru, Pune, Mysore and Vellore, plans to use the money to expand its base to Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, Hong added. He expects to be able to expand to 20 cities by the end of 2017.
Founded in 2015 by Wan Hong and Madhusudan E, KrazyBee offers flexible installment-based purchases exclusively to college students with no credit history or credit cards. To avail a loan, students need to register on the platform and provide college and personal details, like a college identification card and Aadhaar card. The team then verifies the documents and provides an initial credit limit of Rs 30,000 which students can use to shop on e-commerce platforms like Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Amazon or even recharge their Paytm wallet.
The company clocked a gross merchandising value (GMV) of Rs 2 crore per month just six months from its inception and is now growing at 60-70 percent on a month-on-month basis, Hong said.
The firm has tied up with Flipkart, Amazon as affiliate partners, five smartphone brands, and more recently with mobile wallet Paytm.
More than 1 lakh customers have registered on the platform and nearly 10-15 percent have already started transacting.Wan Hong, Co-Founder, KrazyBee
The startup has also launched a ‘finnovation' incubation cell, which helps college students work on ideas and set up their businesses. It mentors, guide and connects college students with strategic collaborators and investors.
Lightspeed Ventures Backs Student Micro-Loan Platform RedCarpet
Gurugram-based micro-loan platform, RedCarpet has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Ventures and Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator, according to a person familiar with the development who did not wish to be identified. The company will use the funds to expand the team and enhance technology, he added.
Founded in 2015 by Abhay Tamaria, Kartik Venkataraman and Sandeep Srinivasa, the startup's business model is very similar to that of KrazyBee, offering flexible finance options to students for online purchases.
RedCarpet provides credit limit to students based on information provided by them and builds a credit score over time. For a new student, the loan can start from as low as Rs 100 and can go as high as Rs 60,000 based on the credit score and buying pattern.
Currently present in Delhi-NCR, the startup had last raised $250,000 from Y Combinator and a group of angel investor, the person added. Redcarpet was one of the three Indian companies selected by Y Combinator for its summer batch of 2015.
Separate emails sent to Lightspeed Ventures, Y Combinator, and RedCarpet did not elicit responses till the time this report was filed.
Sequoia Invests In Intra-City Logistics Startup Porter
Porter, an online intra-city logistics marketplace has raised around $2.5 million in fresh funding from existing investor Sequoia Capital, a person privy to the development told BloombergQuint.
Mumbai-based Resfeber Labs Pvt Ltd., which runs Porter, was founded in August 2014 by IIT graduates Pranav Goel, Uttam Digga, and Vikas Choudhary. The startup operates as an intra-city truck aggregator marketplace and allows customers and businesses to hire vehicles for relocation or to transport e-commerce deliveries and other goods.
It has a varied fleet of 3,000 vehicles ranging from Tata Ace, Super Ace, Canter to Tata 909 across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad, according to the company's website.
Last year the company raised $5.5 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Kae Capital, and three other angel investors.
Separate emails sent to Porter and Sequoia Capital did not elicit any response.
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