Y Combinator Backed Corporate Card Startup Karbon Bags $12 Mn In Pre-Series A

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Karbon Card has raised $12 Mn in Pre-Series A round from US-based fintech unicorn Ramp. The investment round also saw participation from Rainfall Ventures, Roka Works and Y Combinator among others. 

The fintech startup plans to use the fresh capital infusion to step up its product development, hire talents and eventually double its head count to 60 over the next 6 months.

Karbon Card offers credit of up to INR 5 Cr with no personal guarantee or fixed deposits to startups. The corporate card startup also provides payments transactions through corporate cards to its customers.Karbon Card also offers expense management through WhatsApp.

Founded in 2019 by Pei-fu Hsieh, Amit Jangir, Kartik Jain and Sunil Sinha, Karbon Card was selected by Y Combinator in the Summer 2021 batch and had earlier raised $3.5 Mn from Orios Venture Partner and US-based 2AM VC.

Within two years of its inception, Karbon has managed to garner over 1,500 clients and has reported a 30% month-on-month growth in revenues despite the pandemic. At present, with the country’s economy opening up, Karbon expects a 35% month-on-month growth in the next 8-12 months. 

Karbon Card pits against another Y Combinator-backed corporate card startup Kodo which has raised $8.75 Mn in Seed round from Brex, Goat Capital, Pioneer Fund, Y Combinator and other Silicon Valley investors earlier this year. 

Karbon Card also competes against fintech unicorn Razorpay’s business-banking platform RazorpayX which also issues corporate cards. Razorpay last raised a strategic investment for global CRM giant Salesforce’s venture arm Salesforce Venture. Razorpay is at present valued at $3 Bn.

On the development, Karbon Card cofounder Hseih said that the startup is solving a major challenge faced by Indian startups and small businesses while availing corporate cards from the banks that ask for 110% deposit guarantee, personal guarantees and massive amount documentation.

Digital payments in India has seen significant growth in the backdrop of the pandemic. The fear of contracting the virus through fiat currency and hassle-free online transactions has doubled down the adoption rate of digital payments among Indians. 

As per the reserve bank of India (RBI), digital payments in the country have grown 30.19% during FY21. As per a recent report by ACI worldwide, India retained the top spot in terms of digital transactions with 25.5 Bn real-time payments transactions, followed by China.

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