India's True Balance gets $28m Series D
Indian financial technology provider True Balance has raised a $28 million Series D round from a group including SoftBank Ventures Asia.
BonAngels, Daesung Private Equity, Shinhan Capital, and Naver also participated. It brings total funding to date to at least $91 million, including a $23 million round in 2018 featuring SoftBank, Shinhan, and Naver, as well as Line and TS Investments.
Most of the capital raised date has come from Japanese and Korean investors, with previous backers also including D3 Jubilee Partners, SB Partners, IMM Investment, HB Investment, IBK Capital, and NH Investment and Securities.
True Balance’s parent company, Balance Hero, was founded in 2014 by Korean entrepreneur Charlie Lee, who first came to India in 2002 as head of India for media software player Real Networks. Its core offering has historically been an app that lets users check prepaid SIM card balances without internet connectivity, recharge cards online, and access promotions from telecom operators.
The business has expanded in recent years to include a suite of fintech products across bill payment, online banking, lending and credit scoring, commerce and ticket booking, and insurance services. Operations this year were marked by a strong pivot toward lending services, with True Balance claiming it has disbursed more than INR1 billion ($13.5 million) via various loan products and grown its loan book more than 8x since January.
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