Kid-focused digital payments and pocket money app Junio on Friday said it has secured a pre-Series A funding of $6 million (Rs 45 crore) led by UAE-based firm NB Ventures, with participation from the existing investor Rajiv Dadlani Group.
The New Delhi-based platform plans to use the fresh money to boost its team, roll out new product features and scale up initiatives to rope in more customers.
Junio, floated by Shankar Nath and Ankit Gera, offers a ‘smart card’ that allows kids to enable both offline and online transactions. It has children as key users between 10 and 16 who have embraced all things digital.
According to their Linkedin profiles, Nath was the Chief Marketing Officer at PayTM, and Gera was the Chief Growth Officer at Progcap and also served as Head of User Growth.
“Since we launched it last year, there is a strong acceptance among the parent-children community. We are now in the process of introducing new and exciting features while focusing on developing a user-friendly product,” said Ankit Gera and Shankar Nath, Co-Founders of Junio, in joint statement.
Junio, operated by Firstpay Technologies, raised $2 million from angel investors Kunal Shah and Yashish Dahiya, Venture Catalysts, and family offices led by the Rajiv Dadlani Group in 2021.
“Pocket money is an age-old concept, and it has evolved over the years. Now, the Junio app is trying to revolutionize the sector by using technology and digitization. The pandemic has pushed us towards a cashless economy, and while pocket money and digital payment by kids are in their nascent stage in India right now, there is a huge potential,” Rajiv Dadlani said.
“Shankar and Ankit have handled digital payments at scale earlier, and we are very impressed by the traction that Junio has been able to garner in a short time. Junio will cultivate a habit of digital payments among young children and create less dependence on cash,” said Neelesh Bhatnagar of NB Ventures.
