ⓘ Featured image: a file-photo of Rajan Bajaj, Founder & CEO of Slice
Bengaluru, India-based fintech startup Slice has reportedly become a unicorn after raising a whopping $220 million Series-B round led by New York-based investment firms Tiger Global and Insight Partners. The latest funding round has brought a valuation of over $1 billion for Slice.
The Series-B funding round for Slice also saw participation from a clutch of existing and new investors including Sunley House Capital, Anfa, Moore Strategic Ventures, Gunosy, 8i and Blume Ventures. Some angel investors including Flipkart founder Binny Bansal also participated.
Owned by GaragePrenuers Internet Pvt. Ltd, Slice is the 41st Indian unicorn startup. The company back in June raised $20 million from BlumeVentures and Gunosy Capital.
Slice helps users to pay their bills, manage expenses and redeem various rewards. The company targets millennials and GenZ audiences with an average age of 27 as these individuals generally face disapproval by banks due to inadequate funds and credit scores. Slice issues ‘Slice Super Card’ in association with Visa and SBM Bank India Ltd – helping its users pay their bills, manage expenses and redeem various rewards and discounts.
Besides Slice Super Card, the company is also working on launching its UPI (unified payments interface) on its mobile app.
The company has revealed that the fresh proceeds will be deployed towards growing the existing line of business for Slice, creating new products, augmenting its engineering and design functions, and funding its non-banking financial company (NBFC).
Speaking of the development, Rajan Bajaj, Founder & CEO of Slice in a press statement said,
“At Slice, we believe that we have built a solid business model and will focus our energies now into growing and scaling the platform. We have been prudent with our business so far and burnt $4.5 million (in capital) over five years. A part of the capital from this fundraise will be invested in our NBFC, as we need to have our own skin in the game, rather than raising debt alone. The remainder will be utilized towards launching new products and scaling the team,”
According to Slice, the credit line of Slice Super Cards ranges from INR 2,000 to INR 10,00,000 and currently serving a user base of around five million on its app.
Commenting on the funding round for Slice, Alex Cook, partner at Tiger Global, in a statement said,
“Slice has built a product that customers love, which we expect will result in continued growth and market share gains. We are excited to partner with Rajan and the team as they expand access to credit and deliver best-in-class customer experience,”
Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners, said,
“Slice targets an under-penetrated market in India and seamlessly allows users to make online payments, pay bills and more. There is a large opportunity in the credit and payment space in India, and Slice is well-positioned to become the leader in the industry. We look forward to this partnership with Slice as they continue to scale up and grow,”
It is important to note that the proptech startup NoBroker has also recently become a unicorn startup in India.
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