Founded in 2014, Money View provides personal loans, as well as buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products worth up to Rs 5 lakh to individuals. It also offers personal financial management solutions to end consumers. For its credit offerings, the Bengaluru-based fintech has partnered with over 15 financial institutions.
Online financial services provider Money View is in discussions to rack up a fresh round of equity funding which will be its second this year and is expected to value it at around $1 billion, post the investment, sources aware of the deal said. According to sources, Money View is in talks to raise up to $150 million as a part of the new fundraise, with private equity giant Apis Partners expected to lead the round and join in as a new investor.
As a part of the fundraising, Apis is expected to lead the round by investing roughly $65 million, with the rest of the corpus coming from internal investors and private equity funds. The fresh round may value the startup at $900 million to $925 million pre-money and over $1 billion post-money, sources added.
Note: Pre-money valuation refers to the value of a company not including external funding or the latest round of funding. Post-money valuation includes outside financing or the latest capital injection.
Apis has also backed the likes of online payments services provider, Cashfree; crowdfunding platform, Impact Guru; non-bank finance company, Hero FinCorp; and health insurer, Star Health in India. For Money View this is more than a 60% jump in valuation since its last prescribed valuation of $625 million earlier in March, this year.
The upcoming round will be the second major fundraise for the fintech firm, which raised $75 million from New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global, Winter Capital, Evolvence India, and Accel, earlier in March this year.
Founded in 2014, Money View provides personal loans, as well as buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products worth up to Rs 5 lakh to individuals. It also offers personal financial management solutions to end consumers. For its credit offerings, the Bengaluru-based fintech has partnered with over 15 financial institutions.
The company plans to expand its product portfolio and launch services including digital bank openings, insurance and wealth management solutions. The company is expected to use the fresh corpus to bolster its foray into some of these categories, while also building capital to apply for regulatory licences, an individual aware of the company’s plans said.
Funding amid regulatory uncertainty
Money View’s latest round also comes at a time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has moved to regulate the fast-growing digital lending sector with formal guidelines, with fintechs expected to comply with the rules by November 30.
“Investors were holding back from pulling the trigger on investments in the digital lending and fintech space this year, due to the regulatory uncertainty,” said a fintech founder in the BNPL space. “Some of the investments in this space were on hold. With the rules out now, and RBI providing clarity, investors are able to better assess these deals and understand the impact on their potential investment.”
Money View said earlier this year that it turned profitable in FY22 and recorded an annualized revenue run-rate (ARR) of Rs 600 crore ($80 million). The company is disbursing loans worth $850 million on an annualized basis, which is expected to touch $1 billion by the end of the current fiscal. It aims to touch an ARR of Rs 1,500 crore by the end of FY23.
Money View’s latest round contradicts the slowdown in late and growth-stage funding in Indian startups as increased interest rates and inflationary pressure continue to subdue investment sentiment.
Late-stage startups, including the likes of business-to-business e-commerce platform Udaan and online pharmacy marketplace PharmEasy, are looking to raise $150-200 million and $100 million, respectively, through convertible notes. Even edtech major Byju’s is looking to raise its new $500 million round through convertible notes, ET reported on October 17.
A convertible note is a form of short-term debt that converts into equity, typically during a future financing round, or an initial public offering (IPO). It requires no valuation to be ascribed to a startup immediately.
Equity funding in Indian startups fell to $2.7 billion in the September quarter compared with nearly $12 billion during the same period in 2021, data from research firm Venture Intelligence showed. This included only four $100 million deals compared with 17 in the preceding quarter and 30 in the March quarter, further underscoring the funding slowdown being witnessed in the Indian startup circuit.
