Online financial services marketplace BankBazaar has raised ₹45 crore from new investors such as WSV Capital, a joint venture fund of Walden International and SK Telecom, the second-largest telecom conglomerate in South Korea.
Existing investors including Amazon, Sequoia India, Experian and Eight Roads also participated in the round.
The latest capital raise is part of BankBazaar’s Series D1 equity financing round, and the proceeds will be used to build new personal finance products and to expand the capability of video-based KYC solution among the startup’s banking and financial partners.
Chennai-based BankBazaar was founded in 2008 by Adhil Shetty, Arjun Shetty and Rati Shetty. The startup aggregates financial products such as home, car, personal loans, and credit cards offered by different banks. Users can visit the app or the website and compare offers across various banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and purchase them online.
In February, BankBazaar said it was close to achieving operational profitability by end of FY20 but the global pandemic crisis has cut short this improvement. The startup currently has a registered customer base of over 40 million.
Adhil Shetty, chief executive, BankBazaar, said demand for “contactless finance” is expected to grow exponentially, especially as consumers are wary about safety. He also confirmed that the company’s path to profitability will be extended due to covid-19.
“This round of funding will help us accelerate our plans to implement contactless access to credit. This round of funding reiterates our investors’ trust in our vision of contactless finance as the future of personal finance and in our ability to make it a reality,” said Shetty in a statement.
“BankBazaar is creating the ‘Credit Karma’ of India with leading-edge technology, a stellar team, and the support of an incredible set of strategic investors. We can’t wait to see how they help revolutionize the Indian financial services sector,” added Andrew Kau, General Partner, WSV Capital.
Including this recent round, BankBazaar has so far raised $116 million in funding from investors such as WSV, Experian, Eight Roads, Sequoia India, Walden International, and Amazon. The startup closely competes with other financial aggregators like Tencent-backed PolicyBazaar, which is currently at $1.5 billion.
