Fintech Startup Rubique Raises Fresh Round Of Funding

Kalaari Capital-backed online lending marketplace Rubique has raised fresh funding led by Japan’s Recruit Group and Russian venture capital management company Emery Capital.

Blacksoil and existing investor Kalaari Capital also participated in the funding round. Apart from this round, the startup is also in the final stages of closing another tranche’ of funding, to be led by a couple of marquee investors

The startup plans to use the funds to hire more data scientists, enhance technology and reach a monthly revenue of $1.8 Mn (INR 12 Cr) by September.

Commenting on the fundraise, Manav Jeet, CEO, Rubique, said, “The success of the latest funding round is a strong indication of the trust our investors have in our vision, our technology-thinking of financial services as well as in our strong focus on robust unit economics model. We have managed to successfully stand out in the fintech space as an innovator par excellence and one of the genuine success stories of the domain through our unique asset-light business model.”

Founded in 2014 by banking veteran Manav Jeet, Rubique acts as an online financial marketplace and offers end-to-end solutions for a user’s credit needs, including SMBs and individuals.

Leveraging advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, the Mumbai-headquartered fintech startup deploys its proprietary algorithm and integrates it with the lending system of banks and other financial institutions, thus ensuring real-time processing.

On the investment, Ivan Savelyev from Emery Capital said, “Rubique’s unique business model and technology thinking has an impressive ability to hit the ground running to build a financially strong nation with easy access to credit to all sectors of the society – Businesses and Millennials. We believe that the deployment of technology to develop scalable and accessible financial services platforms, incorporating big data analytics and machine learning, will be critical to any lending business serving the underbanked and underserved customers in India.”

Having raised over $10 Mn in funding, Rubique claims to have serviced over 100K customers, disbursing to date loans worth $407 Mn (INR 2670 Cr) so far.

Along the way, it has also clocked annual revenues of around $7.2 Mn (INR 47 Cr), while remaining unit economics positive at the transaction level. With a renewed focus on innovation, marketing and strategic partnerships, particularly in the B2B and B2C segments, the startup now aims to break even in 2019.

At present, Rubique is also set to launch into two new categories – insurance and mutual funds, with the company having received regulatory approvals for both. The segments have been receiving increasing attention from giants like Paytm and Flipkart too.

Recently the reports surfaced that Paytm has incorporated two Insurance companies: Paytm Life Insurance Corporation Ltd and Paytm General Insurance Corporation Ltd. Prior to that, reports had surfaced that Flipkart may soon start selling insurance products on its financial marketplace.

Inc42 recently caught up with Manav Jeet who shared with us that on a month-on-month basis, Rubique has already reached $22.8 Mn (INR 150 Cr) disbursement and last month achieved the highest milestone of 7,000 cards setup per month.

At present, Rubique clocks around ~ $500 K (more than INR 3 Cr) in monthly revenue. And while growing consistently, will be aiming for $75 Mn disbursement per month and around 25000 card setups by September 2018.

He said, “We continue to grow in double digits and that is evident in our year-on-year (YoY) growth number of more than 400%. With a lean team and performance-based growth, we have seen consistent revenue growth. Our core strength continues to lie in technology with maximum employee strength diverted to that direction.”

Alternative lending is a growing space in the country. Players like Lendingkart, FlexiLoans, KredX, Capital Float, Rupeelend, Myloanbuddy and MoneyinMinutes, amongst others are already making their mark in this space. Most recently, SAIF Partners and Sequoia India-backed online lending platform Capital Float raised $22 Mn in a follow-on Series C funding round of $22 Mn from Amazon Inc.

Overall, as per Inc42 DataLabs Indian Startup Funding report 2017, the Indian fintech industry has received $3.01 Bn across 111 deals in 2017. And the sector continued to lead its growth, as according to Indian Tech Startup Funding Q1 2018 report, fintech as a sector witnessed the highest funding.

As the fintech segment continues to witness higher investment, startups like Rubique have been identifying customers’ requirements to push for scalability of their portfolio.

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