AI Growth Pvt. Ltd, which operates the fixed-income investment platform Jiraaf, on Thursday said it has secured $8.7 million (Rs 72.3 crore) in a Series B funding round co-led by Harmony Ventures and Accel as new and existing investors, respectively.
The round also saw participation from early-stage VC firm Capital A and undisclosed angel investors.
The startup will use the capital to hire talent across teams and expand its product offerings. It also aims to reach around 300,000 users and enable Rs 10,000 crore in investment.
Founded in 2021 by Saurav Ghosh and Vineet Agrawal, Jiraaf curates and offers fixed-income investment opportunities through its digital platform. The platform offers products including treasury bills, corporate bonds, asset leasing and venture debt which allows an investor to build a portfolio between 7% to 18% yield with a tenure ranging from 30 days to 3 years.
It claims to have around 125,000 registered users and has originated Rs 2,300 crore worth of investments to date.
“The fund infusion will support our commitment towards bringing high-quality fixed-income instruments in a transparent and convenient manner” added Ghosh, co-founder, Jiraaf.
Prior to the current funding round, the startup had raised $7.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel, Mankekar and Aspire family offices and witnessed participation from Capital A, PharmEasy founders, Ramakant Sharma (co-founder Livspace), Founders of Zetwerk and Shantanu Garg (managing director and Partner, BCG).
Jiraaf has partnered with around 50 borrowers including Caratlane, Homecredit, Edelweiss, Zuari International, Vivriti Capital, Prabhudas Liladhar and Everest Fleet.
Meanwhile, Accel is a venture capital firm in India with over 200 investments and 22 unicorns in the portfolio. It recently co-led the seed funding round of wealthtech startup Aaritya Tech along with Elevation Capital.
Around the same time, Accel also participated in the $20 million extended Series C funding round of business-to-business (B2B) seafood company Captain Fresh.