The number of unicorns in the Indian startup ecosystem surpassed 100 on Monday, when Bengaluru-based neobank platform Open raised $1 billion in its Series D round of investment. According to a statement from the company, the fresh round was headed by Mumbai-based investment firm IIFL, with current investors Tiger Global, Temasek, and 3one4 Capital also participating.
‘We see a lot of synergies with IIFL especially on leveraging the lending book, as we are getting ready to launch innovative products like revenue-based financing, early settlement, working capital loan and business credit cards to SMEs on our platform’, said Anish Achuthan, co-founder and chief executive of Open.
More than 20 lakh firms in the country utilise the neobank platform, which conducts over $30 billion in transactions each year. The advent of neobanks, according to Bengaluru-based management consulting firm Redseer, is expected to upset India’s $31 billion fintech business.
Neobanks are bridging the gap between traditional banks services and clients’ changing expectations in the digital era.
Open, which has raised $187 million to date, plans to launch three additional products, including revenue-based financing Flo, early settlement card providing Settl, and working capital loan Capital, in the near future. With its new solutions, the neobank platform firm hopes to disburse $1 billion.
With the development of neobanks, India’s fintech sector, which is the world’s third largest behind the United States and China, is ready for additional upheaval.
According to statistics from Venture Intelligence, Indian companies raised more than $10 billion in the first quarter of 2022, up from $5.7 billion in the same time of 2021. During the first quarter of this year, 14 startups became unicorns.
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