In an extraordinary show of faith in the future of his own firm, Gaurav Kumar, the founder and CEO of Yubi, which turned into a fintech unicorn this year from Cred Avenue, has infused a thundering Rs 250 crore, roughly $30 million, in equity capital in the startup he founded.
PC: The Economic Times
That puts Kumar among a select club for the biggest capital infusions by a founder in a technology company in recent times, underlining the unswerving commitment to Yubi’s long-term growth and positive outcomes.
Yubi, co-founded by Kumar with Vineet Sukumar in 2020, has grown quickly into one of the biggest fintech firms. The company’s platforms facilitate the flow of money from the lender to the borrower and then back to the lender, be it technology infrastructure, risk evaluation, collections, or anything of the sort.
Since inception, Yubi has enabled over Rs 1,40,000 crore in debt volumes and has served more than 17,000 enterprises and 6,200 plus investors and lenders. No wonder, its stellar performance has not gone unnoticed, catapulting it to unicorn status in March 2022 after $135 million Series B round from backers Insight Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, and B Capital Group, who led the deal.
In a recent development, Yubi’s value touched a stupendous $1.5 billion through a secondary sale, further approving its position as one of the major players in the fintech ecosystem.
Also, Yubi had added fresh employee stock options worth $26 million for its employees. The company’s total ESOP plan thus stood at $70 million.
The board of Yubi approved the latest round of equity and saw it as a testament to its founder putting all his belief behind it and his willingness to inject resources from his personal coffers to have it grow.
The trend of founders infusing money into their start-ups is gaining significant momentum in the Indian start-up space. Recently, Oyo’s founder, Ritesh Agarwal, pumped in $100 million in the company through a Singapore-based entity called Patient Capital. Accordingly, the co-founders of Ather Energy, Tarun Mehta, and Swapnil Jain, have invested $10 million in the electric vehicle firm.
In conclusion, Yubi founder Gaurav Kumar invests a massive Rs 250 crore ($30 million) in his fintech startup, one of the largest founder investments in recent times. This latest investment underscores the value of strong leadership, financial stability, and a shared vision between the founders and stakeholders of the company. In the face of changing fintech landscapes, Yubi will continue to commit to innovation and pleasing customers, which is somewhat strategic to continue sustaining this competitive advantage and growth rate.
