IPO-Bound Perfios Enters Unicorn Club, Snags $80 Mn From Ontario Teacher’s Arm

Fintech SaaS startup Perfios has raised $80 Mn (INR 663 Cr) from new investor Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), the late stage investment arm of Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

The latest investment has catapulted the valuation of Perfios’ to more than $1 Bn mark, making it India’s second unicorn of 2024, following Krutrim.

In September last year, the fintech startup signed an agreement with Kedaara Capital for an investment of $229 Mn in its Series D funding round through a combination of a primary and a secondary sale, making it the biggest raise at that time.

Perfios will deploy the fresh proceeds to further its international expansion and enhance its global presence. It will also support in advancing the startup’s comprehensive tech stack to aid end-to-end customer journeys in banking, insurance and embedded commerce.

Besides, the company aims to tap inorganic growth opportunities.

This comes at a time when the company is looking for a potential listing on the Indian bourses. It is reportedly mulling a $500 Mn (INR 4,156 Cr) initial public offering (IPO).

“Our business has been seeing steady growth year-on-year, with consistent improvement in the bottom line. This investment will further help us in strengthening the digital transformation journey of our partners, thereby powering financial inclusion and providing access to financial services to billions across the globe,” said Sabyasachi Goswami, CEO, Perfios.

“Our investment in Perfios is in line with our strategy of backing seasoned and visionary management teams in businesses with strong growth potential and a clear competitive edge. Perfios is positioned to play a pivotal role in the digital transformation of financial services companies in India and beyond,” said Deepak Dara, senior managing director and head of India at Ontario Teachers’.

Founded in 2008, by VR Govindarajan and Debasish Chakraborty, Perfios is a credit decisioning and analytics startup which operates in B2B and B2C segments. Currently operating in 18 countries, the company claims to be working with over 1,000 financial institutions.

According to the company, it delivers 8.2 Bn data points to banks and financial institutions every year to facilitate faster decisioning and processes 1.7 Bn transactions a year with an AUM of $36 Bn.

Kelvin Yu, senior managing director and head of Teachers’ Venture Growth in Asia, said, “Perfios continues to invest behind its market-leading tech stack, adding new use cases that enable the company to be the trusted partner of choice to leading financial institutions globally.”

As per the company’s statement, TVG’s investment in Perfios underscores its global growth potential and significant role in India’s financial services digitisation. Perfios aligns with TVG’s strategy, investing in teams leveraging technology for a strong market position.

Ramgopal Subramani, executive director, chief strategy officer at Perfios, said, “We are delighted that the investment from TVG reaffirms Perfios’ strong leadership in the markets of choice and our unbridled aspiration to continuously grow through strategic investments into newer domains and geographies to serve our clients better.”

Additionally, as part of this investment, Darius Vakil, director, TVG, India will be joining the board of Perfios as the nominee of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Meanwhile, in November 2023, the startup turned profitable in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), posting a consolidated net profit of INR 7.8 Cr on the back of a significant jump in its service income due to strong performance of its India business.