Gamified Fintech Startup Fello Secures Funding To Help Youth Learn Savings

Game-based investment startup Fello has raised $4 Mn in a fresh funding round led by US-based Courtside Ventures along with participation from Entrepreneur First, Ycombinator, Kube Venture and Upsparks. 

CRED’s Kunal Shah, Groww’s Lalit Keshre, Dafeng’s Charlie Songhurst, and Alan Rutledge also have participated in the funding round. 

Fello plans to use the funds to develop gamified financial products, hire talent and expand its user base in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities of India.

The development comes after Fello secured $1 Mn in a seed funding round in November 2021.

Founded in 2021 by YCombinator graduates Manish Maryada and Shourya Lala, Fello is a gamified saving platform that encourages GenZ and millennials to learn savings through gaming and also grow their money with higher returns. 

Fello shared that it aims to make finance fun and rewarding for Indian youth and further plans to onboard 5 Mn customers by the end of 2023.

“India has attracted unprecedented investment in the last four years in the fintech and gaming sector. As a global game investor, Courtside Ventures has remained very active in the ecosystem.  The Indian gaming audience is one of the largest and most active markets in the world. Yet, financial services applications attract a fraction of that gaming audience,” said Kai Bond, partner of Courtside Ventures.

The Bengaluru-based startup has a user base of more than 500K and aims to reach 5 Mn by December 2023. It claims to register 72% of its customers coming organically to the platform via referrals.

Explaining its business model, the startup said that for every rupee saved, users earn gaming tokens that can be used for playing games and win rewards. Further, the platform helps users grow savings by 10% and also win up to INR 1 Cr via gaming rewards.

“We are thrilled to begin the New Year with a new round of funding through new and existing marquee investors. This reaffirms our vision of becoming India’s preferred ‘financial savings app’ that combines finance and gaming, thus inculcating and encouraging the habit of saving and investing among India’s youth,” said Manish Maryada, cofounder and CEO of Fello.

It counts Acequia Capital, Ashneer Grover, Freo’s Bala Parthasarathy as its investors. 

In India, it competes with the likes of Jar, YottaSavings and Prizepool, among others. 

According to an Inc42 report, investment tech will become a $28 Bn space by 2025. The industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 44% by the forecasted period (2025). Meanwhile, the entire fintech industry will become a $1.3 Tn space by 2025.