Fintech Venture Zeta Gets Funding From Sodexo At $300 Mn Valuation

SUMMARY

Bhavin Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati launched Zeta in 2015

Zeta currently has 14K corporate clients and 1.9 Mn users

“We will be expanding our operations to over 15 countries in the next two years,” Turakhia said

Bhavin Turakhia-led fintech startup Zeta has secured an undisclosed amount in Series C funding round from Sodexo Benefits and Rewards (BRS). According to the company, the funding round has been raised at a valuation of $300 Mn. With this investment, Sodexo will have a minority stake in the company.

Aurelien Sonet, CEO, Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services, said Zeta’s payment solutions will be used by Sodexo for its suite of solutions. Zeta and Sodexo are already working together on deploying Zeta’s platform across several Sodexo subsidiaries, Sonet said. The two companies have been working together since 2017.

With this funding round, the fintech startup will look at expanding its business to the US, UK, Europe and Southeast Asia. The plan is to start with expanding to 7-8 countries in the next 18 months, before going further. The company also plans to double its engineering team with 200 new hires.

Zeta: From Bootstrap to Funding

So far Zeta has been bootstrapped with funding from the cofounders Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati. “We have extremely ambitious plans to scale Zeta across the globe. The advantage with Sodexo is that they are a strategic partner and are committed to much more than just the investment. While they can use our platform elsewhere in the world, we can work with their customer base across the globe,” Turakhia said.

Founded in 2015 by Turakhia and Gaddipati, Zeta offers a cloud-native neo-banking platform for the issuance of credit, debit and prepaid products that enable companies to launch engaging retail and corporate products, besides offering digitised solutions to enterprises such as automated cafeteria billing, employee gifting, R&R.

According to the company, it currently has 14K corporate clients and over 1.9 Mn users who use Zeta’s employee benefits and corporate gifting platform. The company has also partnered with brands like RBL Bank, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and others, besides Sodexo.

Turakhia, cofounder and CEO of Zeta said the new investment will help the company expand operations to over 15 countries over the next two years. “Today’s banking and fintech ecosystem require cloud-native, privacy-aware, inherently secure, API first banking and payment solutions. With this new investment, we want to further our vision to accelerate to a world where payments are invisible and seamless,” he added.