Fintech Startup Finbots.AI Raises $3 Mn From Accel To Expand Its Asia Footprints

Fintech startup Finbots.AI, a venture targeted at banks and financial institutions, has raised $3 Mn in a Series A round from Accel to expand its footprints in Asia.

This is the first external investment for Finbots.AI. The fundraise will be used to enhance products, marketing and sales, and customer support apart from recruiting senior talent and expanding its team, according to a press statement. 

Founded in 2017 by Sanjay Uppal and Shripad Keni, Finbots.AI aims to deliver solutions to aid financial institutions to overcome complex challenges and achieve revenue growth, enhanced risk management and cost efficiencies. 

“This funding unlocks the next phase of growth for Finbots.AI. Financial institutions today need solutions to solve their complex challenges brought by legacy platforms. Tapping on AI-enabled solutions can help them transform exponentially,” said Sanjay Uppal, founder and CEO of Finbots.AI.  

The startup’s AI-powered credit score system – ZScore – democratises access to cutting edge capabilities for financial institutions, enabling them to develop accurate scorecards and process applications in real time, as claimed by the startup. 

According to the startup, equipped with an intuitive user interface and robust scorecard development capabilities, ZScore develops accurate credit score by using Machine Learning (ML) algorithms that utilise historical/traditional and alternate data to automatically build, validate, and deploy real-time, high-performing risk models. 

With ZScore, financial institutions have better visibility over potential borrowers’ credit capacity which consequently lead to higher financial inclusion, as per the startup.  

Finbots.AI currently has offices in Singapore, Hyderabad (India) and Dubai (the United Arab Emirates). It is looking to grow its headcount to a total of 50 by the end of 2022 and expand its footprint to the rest of Asia. 

Many fintech startups have either raised funding in the past few months or they are in an advanced stage to secure funds in the coming months, indicating the sector is poised for growth and expansion. 

For instance, Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn slice is in talks to close $55 Mn in the first tranche of its bigger Series C round, as reported two days ago.  

People aware of the development told Inc42 that the startup is raising the fresh round at a valuation between $1.8 Bn and $2 Bn. The round will see participation from existing investors such as Tiger Global, Insight Partners with some new investors. 

In February 2022, fintech startup Perfios raised close to $70 Mn in a funding round from its existing investors Warburg Pincus and Bessemer Venture Partners. 

India’s overall fintech market opportunity is estimated to be $1.3 Tn by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 31% during 2021-2025, according to a report (Q1 2022) by Inc42. 

Of this, lending tech is likely to account for 47% ($616 Bn), followed by insurance tech at 26% ($339 Bn) and digital payments at 16% ($208 Bn). 

Among these three, insurance tech is the fastest-growing fintech sub-segment in terms of market opportunity, growing at a CAGR of 57%, followed by investment tech (44%) and fintech SaaS (40%).