BENGALURU: India now has 100 unicorns. The country welcomed its 100th unicorn -- Bengaluru-based neobanking platform Open -- on Monday. Open raised $50 million in a Series D round from IIFL along with existing investors Temasek, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital.
The neobanking fintech is now valued at $1 billion. It is also the 16th unicorn in 2022.
The funding will help Open accelerate its existing product lines Zwitch (embedded finance platform) and BankingStack (enterprise banking solution for banks), drive global expansion and reach over 5 million customers within the next one year, the company said.
Open also plans to double its workforce from the present 500 to 1,000 in one year.
In the last one year, Open has increased its customer base to 2.3 million, and with this investment, the new unicorn will accelerate its new product offering on SME lending. It is also gearing up for the launch of three new products aimed at enhancing the capital needs of SMEs apart from its existing SME credit card offering.
The new products include Open Flo, an innovative revenue-based financing product for ecommerce businesses, Open Settl, an early settlement credit offering, and Open Capital, a working capital lending offering for SMEs.
Open is aiming to disburse $1 billion in lending through the new suite of products on the platform in the next one year. According to a study, neobanks offer 42% more features in their mobile apps than traditional banks.
Anish Achuthan, Co-founder and CEO, Open, said, “We are excited to partner with IIFL and existing investors Tiger Global, Temasek and 3one4 Capital for our series D round. We see a lot of synergies with IIFL especially on leveraging the lending book, as we are getting ready to launch innovative products like revenue-based financing, early settlement, working capital loan and business credit cards to SMEs on our platform.”
R Venkatraman, Co-promoter, IIFL Group & Chairman, IIFL Securities said Indian MSMEs banking and credit delivery can be revolutionised by Open.
Apart from Open, the country has many neobanks including Fi, Niyo and Jupiter, among others.
Founded in 2017, Open powers more than 2.3 million SMEs and processes over $30 billion in annualised transactions. The platform also adds over 1 lakh SMEs every month, making it the fastest-growing SME-focused neo-banking platform globally. Last year, the platform acquired Finin. Five months ago, it raised a Series C funding, and has doubled its valuation with the current round. Open has raised over $140 million in funding so far.