Fintech Startup OneCard Becomes India’s 104th Unicorn After Raising $100 Mn From Temasek

Pune-based fintech startup OneCard has become the latest entrant to the unicorn club after it raised about $100 Mn (about INR 802 Cr) in a fresh funding round. The new funding round, which seems to be the startup’s Series D round, was led by Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek, which invested INR 375 Cr.

The round also saw participation from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Ocean View Investment, QED Holdings, Matrix Partners, Hummingbird, among others, as per the startup’s regulatory filings. 

OneCard allotted 10 equity shares and 2,68,891 Series D cumulative, non-redeemable mandatorily and fully convertible preference shares to the investors in the funding round.

As per Inc42’s calculations, OneCard’s valuation post the new funding round is around $1.25 Bn.

The funding round comes six months after OneCard raised $75 Mn in its Series C round from QED Investors, an existing investor, at a valuation of $750 Mn. Sequoia, Matrix Partners, and Hummingbird Ventures also participated in the round. 

The startup had raised $35 Mn in its Series B round last year. 

OneCard, founded in 2018 by Anurag Sinha, Rupesh Kumar and Vaibhav Hathi, launched its first mobile metal card in 2020. The startup offers Visa credit cards in partnership with banks such as IDFC Bank, South Indian Bank, Federal Bank, Bank of Baroda Financial, and SMB Bank. Apart from offering cards to its customers, the startup also offers OneScore – a no-spam, digital credit score platform offering free credit score checks. 

The startup has disbursed over 2.5 Lakh cards to its customers so far. During FY21, OneCard reported a total revenue of INR 16.3 Cr, of which INR 10.7 Cr came from sales. This was a significant jump compared to FY20, when the startup generated around INR 1 Cr in revenue.

In FY21, the startup’s expenses jumped 432% to INR 49.5 Cr from INR 9.3 Cr in FY20. While employee benefit expenses stood at INR 13.2 Cr, it spent INR 3.6 Cr for issuance of cards in FY21. The startup incurred a loss of INR 33.1 Cr during the financial year. 

OneCard competes with the likes of Slice, Karbon Card, Uni Card, Kodo Card, among others. 

Amidst the ongoing funding winter, fintech startups continue to remain the favourite of investors. As per an Inc42 report, the fintech sector raised $3.4 Bn in funding across 159 deals in H1 of 2022. 

India has produced 22 fintech unicorns so far, of which four, including OneCard, joined the coveted club in 2022. Earlier this year, Open, Oxyzo, and Yubi (earlier CredAvenue) raised funds at a valuation of over $1 Bn.

The development was first reported by Entrackr.

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