API fintech platform YAP on Tuesday said that it has raised $4.5 million as a part of its Series A round, led by Singapore-based venture capital firm BEENEXT.
8i Ventures Fund, The DMI Group via its AIF vehicle The Sparkle Fund, Better Capital, and angel investors Alok Mittal, CEO, Indifi, Ashneer Grover, CEO, BharatPe, Amrish Rau, CEO, PineLabs, Jitendra Gupta, founder, Jupiter and Abhishant Pant, founder, Fintech Meetup also participated in the round.
In February, the Chennai-based startup had said it has raised ₹10 crore as part of its seed funding led by PineLabs’ CEO Amrish Rau.
The current round of funding will be used to strengthen the team, build technology and offer enhanced API products to fintechs which are focusing on enabling access to credit, corporate banking solutions, cross border payments and providing neo-banking solutions.
YAP helps businesses to connect and roll out their own branded products. The company works with banks and financial institutions as product providers and offers end-to-end program management services over a bundle of APIs (application program interface).
“Our platform is connected to 15 banks in India and by leveraging technology, we are accelerating the paradigm shift in sacheting of financial services by new cohorts of distribution, leading to lowering costs, enhancing access, and better value proposition to end consumers,” said Prabhu Rangarajan, co-founder, YAP.
Currently, YAP provides an API platform to more than 200 fintechs, and the company claims to have raised over $1 million in angel financing earlier this year.
“I have been actively looking for a “fintech anywhere” Platform Company in India for the past 12 months and I was very pleased when I met Madhu, Muthu and Prabhu and heard about their very unique founding journey. We agreed very quickly to partner and invest,” said Dirk Van Quaquebeke, managing partner, BEENEXT.
BEENEXT has made early-stage investments in several fintech startups including – BharatPe, OpenBank, Shubloans, and SafeGold.
“YAP has played a crucial role in the evolution of the fintech ecosystem in India. As a provider of digital payments infrastructure, it is very well-placed to benefit from the continuing adoption of digital finance channels by Indian households and companies.” commented Shivashish Chatterjee, co-founder, DMI Group.
Last week even, fintech infrastructure startup, Setu said it has raised $15 million as a part of its Series A funding round, led by Falcon Edge and Lightspeed Venture Partners US along with existing investors Lightspeed India Partners and Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund.
