Fintech startup Klub has raised ₹14 crores ($2 million) in a pre-seed round from Sequoia Capital’s early-stage accelerator Surge. Other investors like Better Capital, 9Unicorns, Tracxn Labs and EMVC Fintech Fund also participated in the funding round. Angel investors including NaveenTewari and Piyush Shah of InMobi, Kunal Shah of Cred, Rajesh Yabaji of Blackbuck, Ramakant Sharma of Livspace, Amit Gupta of Yulu, participated in the round.
Also Read: Definitive Guide to Finding and Approaching Investors for Seed Funding
The startup plans to use the freshly raised capital to build its investment and data platform and expand its team. Founded by Anurakt Jain and Ishita Verma in 2019, the startup enables financing to high-affinity brands. Headquartered in Singapore, the startup is building its platform for the Indian market but aims to expand pan-Asia.
Jain told Inc42, “There is a growth of consumer brands in Asia driven by rising consumerism, information symmetry through social channels, and ease of launching new brands. These consumer brands face a lot of challenges in raising capital from traditional equity and debt sources. Klub aims to be a partner in the growth journey of these brands providing them with skin-in-the-game financing and enabling them with new revenue opportunities.”
Klub is in stealth-mode and hence, not much information is available about the business. However, in-brief, the startup provides growth capital to high-affinity brands across sectors like food & beverages, fashion, lifestyle, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and consumer internet. Klub is also piloting with some international brands set to enter India soon.
The startup uses data-driven analytics and community engagement to provide the best financial products to brands. Klub’s early team has alumni from IIT, IIM, and NIT with deep fintech industry experience and has worked in organizations like Flexiloans, SRI Capital, Fullerton, Brand Capital, InCred and Credit Suisse.
Fintech sector in India raised ₹18,200 crores ($2.6 billion) in 2019 from institutional investors which are 71% higher than 2018, according to DataLabs by Inc42. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, recently highlighted than the fintech market in India will expand to ₹2.17 lakh crores ($31 billion) in 2020. And this is evident from the increasing collaboration between banks, NBFCs ad fintech startups.
