Y Combinator-Backed ClearTax Gets $50 Mn Funding Boost

Y Combinator-backed fintech startup ClearTax has secured $50 Mn in Series B round of funding led by Hong Kong-based investment firm Composite Capital.

The company is looking to use the fresh capital to further accelerate its growth and expand the suite of products and services on its platform.

Founded in 2011 by Archit Gupta, Raja Ram Gupta, Srivatsan Chari, and Ankit Solanki, ClearTax provides a range of services to clients including tax preparation, e-filing, accounting and investment planning solutions for individuals and businesses.

Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO of ClearTax said, “With this new investment, we have more firepower to focus on our mission, accelerate our growth trajectory and continue to invest in technology and innovate our platforms to meet expanding customer needs.”

At the same time, Composite Capital is focused on consumer, technology and transportation companies globally after it was founded in 2016 by David Ma, a former partner of Hillhouse Capital.

Since 2011, ClearTax has been on a growth trajectory as it made space for itself in the overcrowded fintech space in India and crossed 1 Mn users benchmark within five years of its inception.

“We are excited to partner with the ClearTax team and support their continued growth. ClearTax continues to build exceptional solutions that simplify tax filings for both individuals and businesses in India,” said Composite Capital’s Managing Director, Kanush Chaudhary.

Till date, the company claims to have completed 2.5 Mn tax returns and were aiming to strike 4 Mn by FY2019.

With the continued success of its business-to-business services, the company also dived into mutual funds segment as it launched ClearTax Invest.

In line with Goods and Services Tax and EWayBill complications, the company also launched ClearTax EWayBill to facilitate eway bill compliance for businesses and incorporation and compliance services for those who are starting up their new ventures.

GST And Mutual Funds: Leading Fintech Growth In India

In April, the centre made e-way bill (EWS) mandatory for the transporters carrying goods worth of over $770 (INR 50K) from one state to the other. The e-way bill that was initially planned to roll out on February 1, 2018, was introduced on April 1, citing technical glitches.

Some of the players in the Indian startup ecosystem enabling GST returns are LegalRaasta, SahiGST etc.

Along the same lines for Mutual funds, there are a number of players such as Wealthy, Scripbox, Fisdom, WealthTrust, MyUniverse, MoneyLover, MoneyView, MTrakr, IOU (I Owe You) etc.

Indian digital payments giant Paytm has already launched its wealth management platform — Paytm Money. Earlier in October, fintech platform Mobikwik and Times Internet-backed financial services platform ETMONEY also made a foray into this space.

Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart is another ecommerce player that is doing its groundwork to enter the wealth management segment.

The Indian fintech software market is estimated to cross $2.4 Bn by 2020, according to a report by KPMG India and NASSCOM.