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Fintech funding in Jan-March down 57% year on year, but up 59% from last quarter

Economic TimesEconomic Times · 1y ago
Fintech funding in Jan-March down 57% year on year, but up 59% from last quarter
Medial

Funding for Indian fintech startups has decreased by 57% YoY in the first quarter of 2024, totaling $551 million. This is down from $1.3 billion raised in the same period last year. However, there was a 59% increase in funding compared to the previous quarter. Seed stage funding dropped 77%, early stage funding declined 42%, and late stage funding fell 60% YoY. Alternative lending, regtech, and banking tech were the top performing sectors, with alternative lending accounting for 89% of total funding. Some notable investments were made in Avanse, Perfios, IDfy, and Mswipe. The report also highlighted increased scrutiny and regulatory changes faced by the Indian fintech ecosystem. Perfios emerged as the only unicorn in Q1 2024.

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Baron and Invesco mark up Pine Labs’ valuation

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Baron and Invesco mark up Pine Labs’ valuation
Medial

US-based investment firms Baron Funds and Invesco have marked up the valuation of fintech unicorn Pine Labs. While Baron increased its valuation to $5.8 billion, Invesco marked the firm’s value up to $4.8 billion as of December 2023. Earlier, Baron Funds valued the firm at $5.3 billion in September last year whereas Invesco cut its valuation to $3.9 billion as of October 31. Invesco had last invested $100 million in Pine Labs in September 2021 while Baron Capital led a $285 million round in the fintech unicorn in May. ET reported the development first via regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Pine Labs has been facing ups and downs in its fair valuation since last year. For the record, Fidelity marked up its stake value in July last year but later slashed its valuation to $3 billion from $4.7 billion as of October. Pine Labs’ revenue continued to climb in FY23 as its collection spiked 56% to Rs 1,588 crore. However, its losses still not tapering down and grew by 12% to Rs 227 crore. The firm is yet to file its FY24 numbers. Pine Labs has been trying to go public for the past few years as its backers including Peak XV Partners are eyeing an exit. Last year, it finalized bankers for an IPO in the US but the attempt didn’t materialize even though the firm’s chief executive Rau refuted the reports of delaying the public listing plan on NASDAQ. On the lines of other large fintechs such as Groww and Razorpay, Pine Labs is seeking to move its domicile to India which appears to have a better public market sentiment for tech companies. Besides Pine Labs, Swiggy, Meesho, FirstCry and Ola Electric also saw markups in their valuation in the last six months.

Exclusive: NeoGrowth raises debt from UTI International

EntrackrEntrackr · 8m ago
Exclusive: NeoGrowth raises debt from UTI International
Medial

MSME-focused digital lender NeoGrowth has raised debt funding from UTI International Wealth Creator. This will be the second debt infusion in the Mumbai-based company in the ongoing calendar year. NeoGrowth's board has approved the issuance and allotment of up to 4,200 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to raise up to Rs 42 crore (approx $5 million), its regulatory filings sourced from the RoC shows. These NCDs will carry an interest rate of 11.7% per annum. UTI International Wealth Creator 4 is a debt fund managed by Mumbai-based UTI Asset Management Company. The debt infusion in the company has come at a time when NeoGrowth is eyeing to raise Rs 500 crore growth capital through private equity investment. The firm managed assets worth Rs 2,750 crore by the end of the last fiscal year, and aims to close FY25 with Rs 4,000 crore AUM. NeoGrowth, an NBFC co-founded by Dhruv Khaitan and Piyush Khaitan, offers short-term unsecured loans to MSMEs, providing amounts of up to Rs 75 lakh with a tenure of up to 100 months. To date, the company has raised approximately $138 million through a mix of equity and debt funding from investors including MicroVest, FMO, Omidyar Network, DFC, and others. Neogrowth registered 57% growth in its gross revenue which spiked to Rs 601 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024 from Rs 381 crore in FY23. Meanwhile, its profit before tax surged almost 4X to Rs 95 crore in the last fiscal year from Rs 24 crore in FY23.

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