Florida-based fintech firm Novo Platform Inc raised an additional $35 million from GGV Capital, taking the total fundraise in its Series B round to $125 million, it said in a press statement. With GGV Capital picking a strategic stake in the firm, it’s principal Robin Li will join Novo’s board as an observer.
With a focus to expand its India operations, the funding will be used to accelerate hiring for top and middle-level positions and to enhance its technological infrastructure in the country.
In January, the fintech firm raised $90 million in its Series B round led by Stripes LLC at a valuation of $720 million. So far, it has raised about $ 170 million, including its previous capital raise rounds. Some existing investors including Valar Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Rainfall Ventures, and BoxGroup also participated in this round.
“After securing Series A and B funding, we are concentrating on the following expansion plan, which calls for hiring talented individuals in middle and top-level management positions in banking, data, and engineering in India over the next six months. We expect to double our current workforce by the end of next year. This will help us create a motivated team that is expanding to achieve new milestones in India,” said Ajar Upadhyay, Director Operations, Novo India.
The fintech firm currently employs about 211 people in India, with offices in Gurugram, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. Novo started its India operations in 2019, which now manage about 70% of the fintech platform’s back-end support.
Florida-based Novo was founded in New York in 2018 by Michael Rangel and Tyler McIntyre. The firm offers a business checking account and fintech platform built for small and medium-sizes businesses. The firm offers an app marketplace allowing clients to integrate tools from third parties like payment processor or an accounting software into their checking account. The platform also offers Novo Boost, a cash flow generation tool for SMBs, for payments processed via Stripe. Some other offerings include Novo Bank’s virtual card, and Novo Reserve, offering transaction access without a physical card, and a financial tracker, respectively.
The fintech company claims to have surpassed more than $12 billion in small business transactions, so far, and has brought on more than 180,000 small business customers.
Among key developments in India’s fintech space, Tiger Global-backed fintech unicorn Cred, on Tuesday said it will acquire 100% stake in lending-based big data company CreditVidya for an undisclosed amount, in a mix of cash and stock.
According to a report by researchandmarkets.com, the global fintech market is expected to see annualized growth rate of 19.71% during the 2021-2027 period. The report valued the market at $131.14 billion in 2021, and expects it to reach $385.93 billion by 2027.