SUMMARY
Tiger Global led the funding round, along with existing investors Moore Strategic Ventures and Insight Partners
slice will use the incoming capital to support the expansion of its new UPI product
According to an Inc42 source, the fintech unicorn is in talks to raise $150 Mn in total
Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn slice has raised $50 Mn as part of its Series C funding round. The funding round was led by Tiger Global, along with participation from existing investors Moore Strategic Ventures and Insight Partners. GMO VenturePartners has joined slice’s cap table as a new investor.
The development comes less than a week after Inc42 had exclusively reported that the fintech unicorn is in talks with Tiger Global and Insight Partners to raise $55-60 Mn in a funding round.
According to a company statement, slice will use the incoming capital to support its new UPI product expansion.
Founded in 2016 by Rajan Bajaj, slice offers credit cards targeting young consumers with no credit history. It claims to have 12 Mn registered users on its platform. The fintech startup has raised around $270 Mn across various funding rounds to date, with the last round taking its valuation over the billion-dollar mark.
The fintech startup issues credit and payments cards in partnership with Visa and SBM Bank. It also offers rewards and discounts across many partner channels on its credit and payment cards. slice also offers a credit line to users, starting from INR 10,000 and going all the way up to INR 10 Lakh.
The unicorn is working on a UPI payments product, which it is currently testing among employees. With the incoming funding, slice hopes to launch the product soon, thereby, competing with the likes of listed fintech Paytm, Flipkart’s PhonePe, Google’s Google Pay and government-backed BHIM, among others.
This funding is only a part of the larger Series C round that slice will raise. According to an Inc42 source, the fintech unicorn is in talks to raise $150 Mn in total.
According to its latest figures, slice’s losses jumped by 394% to INR 8.9 Cr in FY21. At the same time, its revenue from operations grew by around 18% to INR 35.3 Cr in FY21. Further, slice reported a 34% increase in its expenses, which reached INR 47.8 Cr in FY21.
Since the start of 2021, fintech startups have remained one of the top three sectors in terms of funding raised in the country, raising around $10 Bn during that time.
However, slice’s funding comes when the country’s startup ecosystem is experiencing a funding slowdown. Last week, India’s startups managed to raise only about $258 Mn, $108 Mn of which was attributed to Country Delight’s funding round.
Join us and navigate the downturn with India’s top 1% fintech and BFSI leaders at Fintech Summit 2022 by Inc42.
