Zolve, a startup offering global access to financial services, has raised Rs 300 crore (around USD 40 million) in a funding round led by DST Global. Tiger Global, Alkeon Capital, as well as existing investors Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in the series -A round.
Zolve provides immigrants, working professionals and US-bound students with access to FDIC-insured bank accounts, high-limit credit cards, and debit cards, without the need for an SSN (social security number) or US credit history, all this while they are still in their home countries. The funding will help the Bengaluru-based fintech startup expand the product suite and ramp up hiring and technology, said Zolve founder and chief executive Raghunandan G in a statement on Wednesday.
The funding values the 10-month old company at Rs 1,575 crore and the new funding comes just seven months after the seed round of Rs 112.5 crore raised from Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and a host of other marquee investors in February 2021. The latest round was led by the partners of DST Global, which have previously led rounds in many prominent global fintechs such as Robinhood, Nubank, Chime, Revolut, and Wealthsimple.
This round also had participation from Tiger Global, another prolific investor in the global fintech space, counting multiple unicorns in its portfolio. The other investors include Alkeon Capital as well as existing investors Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The funds will be used to rapidly scale up its financial services platform, he added.
Zolve is on course to become a full-stack financial services provider with products focused on instant remittance, insurance, and loans in the pipeline, he added. A portion of the money will also be used to grow its partner network and recruit talent in the US and India to offer more products and open access to more countries, Raghunandan said, adding he is looking forward to expanding the scale and reach of the products.
Zolve is building a financial world without borders by developing financial services for global citizens. Founded to help immigrants build their financial futures globally, Zolve offers a full-featured financial services app, an FDIC-insured US bank accounts, and a high-limit credit card, in partnership with a partner bank, to new immigrants when they arrive. Raghunandan, the founder and chief executive of Zolve is an entrepreneur and angel investor. Before Zolve, he built taxi aggregator Taxiforsure, which was sold to Ola Cabs in 2015 for USD 200 million. As an angel investor, he has helped over 50 startups.
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