SUMMARY
The startup is expected to raise $100 Mn from Jio Platforms, which will hold a majority stake in it
The B2B fintech venture will be headquartered in Bengaluru. The startup has product, technology and other teams in place
Unlike ZestMoney, Chapman’s new venture will likely be a full-fledged B2B firm focussed on offering digital payment infrastructure (DPI), SaaS products, APIs, and other solutions to banks and NBFCS
Former ZestMoney CEO Lizzie Chapman and CTO Ashish Anantharaman are working on a B2B fintech venture, SwiffyLabs, which is expected to be officially launched next month.
Sources privy to the development told Inc42 that the startup is expected to raise $100 Mn from Jio Platforms, which will hold a majority stake in it. The B2B fintech startup will be housed under Reliance Industries Limited’s Jio Platforms.
While it is currently being called SwiffyLabs, the startup may undergo a brand makeover before its official launch, the sources added.
The B2B fintech venture will be headquartered in Bengaluru. The startup has product, technology and other teams in place.
An email sent to Chapman and RIL did not elicit any response till the time of publishing this story. The story will be updated as and when they respond.
Unlike ZestMoney, a B2C BNPL startup, Chapman’s new venture is a full-fledged B2B firm focussed on offering digital payment infrastructure (DPI), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products, APIs, and other solutions to banks and NBFCs.
Lizzie has been aggressively trying to onboard banking and NBFC clients over the past few months and widespread discussions have taken place with major financial institutions, sources added.
At a time when the B2C fintech companies in India are grappling with regulatory headwinds, the B2B model could be a major draw for investors as the financial services industry steps up to digitise its infrastructure with emerging technologies.
“The vertical where SwiffyLabs is venturing into is not a crowded space. There are only a few startups like M2P Fintech and Finbox, which are backed by investors like Tiger Global, Amazon, and Flipkart, in the market. The technology and products these startups are making cater to not only domestic but also international markets,” a B2B fintech startup founder said, requesting anonymity.
How Will Jio Platforms Give SwiffyLabs A Boost?
Besides the telecom business of RIL, Jio Platforms houses many startups in the pharmaceutical, AR/VR, ecommerce, logistics, and drone technology sectors.
Chapman-led SwiffyLabs will be another addition to Jio Platform’s portfolio of startups in which it has majority stakes.
“These startups run on an independent basis but have RIL officials on their board as directors or advisors. Besides, the startups are well-capitalised and leverage the huge tech network that Jio Platforms has built with tech giants like Google and Facebook investing billions of dollars into it,” a source quoted above said.
Jio Infocomm’s (telecommunication business) 450 Mn subscriber base is also a huge advantage to the startups housed in Jio Platforms.
Jio Platform’s most recent investments were a $15 Mn funding into deep tech startup Two Platforms for a 25% stake and a $200 Mn investment in consumer internet startup Glance for a 17% stake.
The sources said that Jio Platforms’s investment in SwiffyLabs will be like the one it made in Haptik, which Jio acquired for INR 230 Cr in 2019.
Over the years, Haptik, which is an AI-based conversational platform, has made significant strides working with Meta-owned WhatsApp Business, Google and other key tech startups.
In SwiffyLabs case, it will not have any direct link with other Reliance verticals. However, some key clients for the new B2B venture may come from Jio Financial Services (JFS).
According to a source, SwiftyLabs will provide a range of services, including early products used by banks on their digitisation journeys as well as the ones that can be used by global banks. “Hence, Reliance is betting big on this.”
Chapman founded ZestMoney in 2015 along with Priya Sharma and Anantharaman. ZestMoney raised more than $125 Mn in debt and equity since its inception. In its last funding round (in September 2021), the company raised $50 Mn at a valuation of $455 Mn. At the time, India was riding high on the BNPL wave, but a slew of regulatory changes since 2022 hit it hard.
ZestMoney cofounders quit the startup last year, months after an acquisition bid by PhonePe failed to materialise. The startup was acquired by DMI Finance in a distress deal in January 2024.
