GaragePreneurs Internet Pvt. Ltd, which operates financial technology firm Slice, has raised Rs 46 crore (approximately $6.07 million at current exchange rates) in its pre-Series B funding round.
The round has been led by the investment and consulting arm of Gunosy Inc., a Japan-based news and technology services company, Slice said in a statement.
Other participants in the round include the US-based early-stage global fund EMVC, Better Capital, Cred founder Kunal Shah and existing backer Das Capital.
The Bengaluru-based company will use the funds to double its management team and explore banking partnerships to launch co-branded prepaid cards and credit cards.
“We are inventing the future of finance for young Indians, who want to understand and relate to financial products just like they would with Snapchat and Instagram,” Rajan Bajaj, founder at Slice, said.
Separately, Gunosy director Yuki Maniwa said the firm was confident of its investment in Slice because of its understanding of its target market and low-cost distribution methods.
News of the fundraising comes after reports in May said that slice was set to raise Rs 22.5 crore (around $3 million) from Gunosy Capital Pte. Ltd.
VCCircle has reached out to Slice to check if this investment forms part of the current pre-Series B fundraise, and will update this report accordingly.
Slice – initially known as SlicePay – was set up in 2016 by Bajaj. The company says it aims to build a “smart, simple and transparent financial platform” aimed at the youth. It says it will aim to have over five lakh users by the end of the 2021 financial year.
The company’s product offerings include its eponymous slice card, as well as no-cost EMI vouchers and emergency cash loans. Slice also offers features including expense tracking, bill conversions to EMIs, partial repayments and scratch cards.
According to VCCEdge, the data research arm of Mosaic Digital, Slice raised $1.4 million in October last year via four debt issues. Prior to that, in September, it had raised $2.9 million from a firm jointly owned by Das Capital and Gunosy Capital.
In October 2017, the company raised $2 million (around Rs 13 crore) in a Series A round from Japan-based Das Capital and Smile Venture Partners, the Russian early-stage investor. Blume Ventures, an existing investor in the firm, also participated in that round.
