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Neobanking fintech Open Financial Technologies Pvt Ltd has announced a series D funding round of $50 million from IIFL along with existing investors Temasek, Tiger Global, and 3one4 Capital. With this new round of funding, the company says it is now valued at $1 billion making it the 100th entrant to India’s unicorn club. The fintech has cumulatively raised $190 million till now.
Open has built one of Asia’s digital banking platforms for SMEs, start-ups, and freelancers and has increased its customer base to 2.3 million customers in the last 12 months.
The strategic investment from IIFL will help Open accelerate its new product offering on SME lending, as the platform is gearing up for the launch of three new products aimed at enhancing the capital needs of SMEs apart from its existing SME credit card offerings.
New products
The new products include Open Flo, an innovative revenue-based financing product for e-commerce businesses, Open Settl, an early settlement credit offering, and Open Capital, a working capital lending offering for SMEs. Open is targeting to disburse $1 billion in lending through the new suite of products on the platform in the next 12 months, it added in a release.
The funding will also help Open accelerate its existing product lines, Zwitch (embedded finance platform) and BankingStack (enterprise banking solution for banks), drive global expansion and reach over 5 million customers within the next one year. The funds will also be used to strengthen the leadership team and increase the employee base from 500 to 1000 within the year.
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These digital, online-only entities provide a variety of services tailored to maximise customer banking experienceCommenting on the fund raise, Anish Achuthan, Co-founder and CEO, Open, said, “We are excited to partner with IIFL and existing investors Tiger Global, Temasek, and 3one4 Capital for our series D round. 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.”
R Venkatraman, Co-promoter, IIFL Group & Chairman, IIFL Securities said, “We are delighted to be part of the most exciting neobanking venture in India. Indian MSMEs’ banking and credit delivery can be revolutionised by Open. We look forward to strengthening the partnership in multiple ways.”
Open Financial Technologies Pvt Ltd was founded in 2017, and offers a neo-banking platform that integrates all the tools used by small businesses and integrates it with the business current account. Today the platform powers more than 2.3 million SMEs and processes over USD 30 billion in annualized transactions. In December 2021, Open acquired consumer neobanking platform Finin. Open raised its Series C funding 5 months back in October 2021, and has doubled its valuation with the current round.
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