Zolve secures $40 million funding led by DST Global
Summary
Fintech startup Zolve has raised $40 million (about Rs 300 crore) in its Series A funding round, led by DST Global and participation from Tiger Global Alkeon Capital , as well as existing investors Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners.The round, one of the largest Series A funding rounds in India’s startup ecosystem, values Zolve at $210 million, a company executive told ET.In February, the startup had raised $15 million in its seed round at a valuation of $50 million.The Delaware and Bengaluru-based startup, founded by former TaxiForSure co-founder Raghunandan G, specialises as a neo-banking platform for international migrants moving to the United States.The firm will deploy the fresh capital to expand its team, as well as its product suite, Raghunandan told ET over a video call.The startup, which launched full scale services last month, is also planning to expand its entry to the European and Canadian immigration markets.“Since we launched, we have been receiving inbound request for funding from many investors and even this round was oversubscribed. DST and Tiger, for example, are on the cap table of some of the largest neo-banks and fintech startups in the world such as Chime, Robinhood, Revolut among others,” he said.Launched in September, Zolve allows immigrants travelling to the United States access to bank accounts with a credit card even before being assigned a social security number. The firm also plans to expand its service to instant remittance, insurance, and loans soon.Zolve said it currently serves around 70,000 customers from Australia, Canada, Germany, India, and the United Kingdom, among others.“While we intended to start with a small cohort of 500 users, we were oversubscribed by almost 90x from working professionals and students within the first few weeks. Given that the US is a country with immigrants in its DNA, it’s surprising how long it has taken someone to solve the issues that new immigrants experience with the traditional banking system,” said Anand Daniel, partner, Accel.According to Bejul Somaia, partner, Lightspeed, access to financial services for immigrants traveling abroad holds high value. “The companys rapid acceleration, especially around customer acquisition and usage, is a reflection of the teams execution capability and significant unmet needs of Zolves target customer base,” he said.