Corporate card startup KarbonCard recently announced that it has raised $2mn through seed round of funding. The funding was made by a clutch of angel investors across India and China.
Fintech startup Cred’s founder Kunal Shah, Amrish Rau (CEO of Pine Labs) and Jitendra Gupta (Founder of Amica Financial Technologies) are among the investors who participated in the funding round.
According to an official statement, the company plans to use these funds towards ramping up its teams across functions, including, product, operations, business development, and marketing.
All three investors – Shah, Rau, and Gupta – are amongst the most active early-stage investors, particularly in the broader Indian fintech sector. Last month, the trio had backed banking and payment products-focused API platform Yap, in a Rs 10 crore angel financing round.
The company was founded in 2019 by Amit Jangir and Pei-fu Hsieh, two former investors with Chinese venture capital fund 01VC. While Jangir was one of the founders of the fund, Hsieh was responsible for leading its India investment. Prior to 01VC, Hsieh was with marquee Silicon Valley investment firm Kleiner Perkins and has had stints with global consultancy firm McKinsey and Rocket Internet, among others. Jangir, an alum of China Europe International Business School, has previously worked with eBay, Yahoo, and Bosch China, across roles.
As per the official statement, KarbonCard does not require any fixed deposits or personal guarantees, and according to the company, can be issued in less than 24 hours. It also claims to not have any hidden interest expenses or fees. Funded startups, with more than Rs 25 lakh in cash, are eligible to apply for a KarbonCard, the company statement added.
Additionally, the company also provides startups with an expense management tool, with reconciliation features, allowing employees to navigate between multitudes of expense reports, and claim reimbursements in a timely manner.
“We offer rewards that are specific to startups’ requirements such as AWS credits, discounts from MakeMyTrip, Uber, WeWork, and many other SaaS products,” Hsieh said.
“We believe that all startups are diamonds or diamonds-in-the-making. The most basic element that forms diamonds is Carbon. We call ourselves Karbon because we want to be the one that supports, nurtures, solidifies and matures every startup to be a true ‘diamond’ in its respective field,” Hsieh added.
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