Bengaluru-based online money lending startup Rupeek, recently announced that it has raised $60mn in funding across two rounds from investors including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and GGV Capital.
Other investors like Tanglin Venture Partners and KB Investments also participated in the funding. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Accel were also present during the funding rounds.
Although Rupeek did not disclose their current valuation, media reports suggested that the recent funding valued the startup at more than $300 million.
The Bengaluru-based company offers gold loads at the customer’s doorsteps and completes the entire loan underwriting-to-disbursal process within 30 minutes. The company claims to cut down on expenses by not running offline stores and offering gold loans at an interest of 0.89% per month.
According to a Mint report, the startup processes loans worth $28mn every month. “We will use the funds to invest in technology- to integrate more with lenders- where we talk to their core banking solution and digitize the transaction from end-to-end with checks and balances,” said Sumit Maniyar, CEO of Rupeek.
While Rupeek has its own non-banking finance company (NBFC) license, it primarily lends by tying up with other banks and not from its own book. “We lend from our book only when we want to experiment – try out a new market or product, and don’t want to expose partner banks immediately,” Maniyar said.
Hans Tung, Managing Partner at GGV Capital, in a statement said,“For India’s middle-class households, gold has long been a favorite way to save and invest. Rather than letting it sit idle, Rupeek has turned a family’s dormant asset into an easy way to get a loan at affordable rates to grow their small business or pay for emergency needs.”
“I am really excited about how Rupeek is opening up access to formal credit for a large base of users. Their strong customer proposition and approach of partnering with banks is truly a game-changer for the unorganized gold loan space in India,” said Flipkart Co-Founder Binny Bansal in a statement.
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