Fintech Startup ClearTax Raises $2 Mn From Founders Fund & Sequoia Capital

Fintech startup ClearTax which facilitates users to file taxes and returns online has raised $2 Mn (INR 13.3 Cr) from FF Angel, the angel investing arm of Peter Thiel led Founders Fund, and Sequoia Capital.

Just last month, the startup raised $1.3 Mn (INR 8.6 Cr) in seed funding from PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and Scott Banister, an early investor in Facebook and Uber.

Archit Gupta, CEO of ClearTax, said, “We have taken the long route, and now we are extremely excited to have some of the biggest thought leaders and investors on board as our partners. We are an instrument-agnostic platform that will allow consumers to choose their rate of return and select what to have in their tax savings basket.”

With the new proceeds, it plans to launch consumer-focused tax-saving products including mutual funds and other equity-linked saving schemes. It also plans to expand its team.

ClearTax was founded in 2011 by Archit Gupta, his father Raja Ram Gupta, Srivatsan Chari, and Ankit Solanki. The startup claims to have more than 1 Mn consumers, 10,000 chartered accountancy firms, and 5,000 small & medium enterprises as clients. It provides a full range of services to clients, from helping them file their tax returns, incorporating companies and undertaking service tax registrations among others.

Co-incidentally, it is also one of the few Indian startups backed by the US-based startup accelerator Y Combinator. It raised $120K in seed funding from Y Combinator in July 2014. The startup has also been backed by One97 Communications, the parent company of mobile digital payments and ecommerce platform Paytm, last October.

In April, the startup also brought in three senior Flipkart executives on board.

Other major players in the tax-filing space include Quicko and Taxsmile, among roughly 15 other service providers for e-filing including Income Tax department portals.

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