Tiger Global, Insight lead $220m round for India's Slice
Tiger Global Management and Insight Partners have led a $220 million round for Indian financial technology provider Slice at a valuation of about $1 billion.
Advent International, Blume Ventures, Gunosy Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and UK-based VC firm Anfa also participated. It follows a $20 million round provided by Blume and Gunosy in June that valued the company at $200 million.
The company has raised about $272 million in equity and debt since its inception in 2015. Previous investors also include the likes of Northern Arc Capital, Vivriti Capital, Better Capital, Das Capital, Emphasis Ventures, Simile Venture Partners, TracxnLabs, and Pegasus Wings Group.
Previously known as SlicePay and HelloBuddy, Slice provides an app that helps about five million registered users – largely college students – manage their bills and other expenses through staggered instalments. It claims this service is available with no “extra” charges. Creditworthiness is assessed with non-traditional data points such as scholastic and social media profile information.
Slice is now said to be issuing credit cards at a rate of 200,000 a month, which would make it the third largest card issuer in the country. It has launched a card with a credit limit as low as INR2,000 ($27) and is considering a new product focused on teenagers.
Services are squarely targeted at a millennial and generation Z audience; the average age of both the users and the company staff is around 27. There is reportedly a waitlist of more than one million potential users.
“The bar for consumer design is very high for them. We don’t have to educate them on how to navigate the app. It’s intuitive for them,” Rajan Bajaj, the company’s founder and CEO, told TechCrunch.
Youth targeting has emerged as a credible strategy for tapping underpenetrated demographics in India’s broader momentum around financial inclusion and democratization. Previous activity in this theme includes a $38 million Series A round for FamPay, a card issuing digital bank for teenagers.
More on South Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.