Velocity, a financial technology startup focussed on revenue-based financing for online businesses, has raised $10.3 million (around Rs 74.77 crore) in a seed funding round.
The round in the Benglauru-based Velocity was led by Valar Ventures, an investment firm backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, according to a statement.
The investment in the startup marks Valar Ventures’ first bet on an Indian company. The firm said it invests in fast-growing fintech firms that are pursuing large market opportunities. It also looks to make follow-on investments in portfolio companies.
Other participants in the round include Matro Peric and Tom Stafford, Presight Capital, the Utsav Somani-backed iSeed, LAO Holdings’ Oliver Jung, Kabbage’s Robert Frohwein, Syfe’s Dhruv Arora, and Scalable Capital’s Erik Podzuweit and Florian Prucker.
Velocity, operated by White Wizard Technologies Pvt Ltd, was set up last year by Abhiroop Medhekar, Atul Khichariya, and Saurav Swaroop. The three, who are all IIT-Bombay graduates, previously worked at Taskbob. They have also been associated with entities including Elevation Capital, McKinsey, and Acko.
Their new venture provides revenue-based financing of up to Rs 2 crore with zero equity dilution and personal guarantees. The company says it is currently focussed on the online marketplace merchant and direct-to-consumer business segments in the country. It claims to have signed up more than 300 enterprise clients to its platform.
The company will use the capital it has raised to ramp up its customer base and product development, with a focus on building financial solutions for businesses. Along with this fundraise, Velocity has also launched its digital marketing-focussed corporate credit cards in partnership with SBM Bank.
“As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India’s digital ecosystem is at an inflection point. We have been impressed with Velocity’s strong customer orientation and aggressive plans to build innovative financing solutions,” Valar Ventures founding partner James Fitzgerald said in a statement.