Delhi-based fintech startup Olly Credit, owned and operated by Millennial Card Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by Japan’s Incubate Fund.
Angel investors Sandesh Kirkire, former CEO at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company; Anand Kumar, partner at Sand Hill Counsel; and Jaipur Rugs director Yogesh Chaudhary also participated in the round, according to Olly Credit’s website.
According to Incubate Fund’s website, the investment in Olly Credit was made in June.
Founded in 2015 by Ashwin Bhambri, Olly offers a mobile-first micro-credit card with a limit of Rs 20,000 for millennials. A user gets a virtual VISA card with instant credit in three minutes, the startup claims.
Bhambri was earlier founder-in-residence at Start-Up Chile. He also worked with firms such as National Bank Financial Canada, iYogi Inc and Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Bhambri didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. He was quoted as saying by The Economic Times that there are just 16.4 million credit cards users in India as banks have traditionally targeted only the creamy layer.
“Every working Indian should have a credit card and never fall short of basic purchasing capacity for groceries, bill payments and other essentials,” he said.
Incubate Fund said on its website: “In India, credit card holders are less than 5% of the population. On the other hand, many people are experiencing cash crunch at the end of each month due to many reasons. Olly is trying to solve this problem by providing instant credit card."
The seed-focussed venture capital firm has been investing in Indian startups since 2016. It is also an investor in startups such as ShopKirana, StayAbode and Nimble.
The fintech sector has been receiving considerable investor interest in the past few months. The investments have been spread across the segment, including payments, digital lending, personal finance and payment gateway startups.
