Neobank Fi Secures $50 Mn Series B Funding The app aims to fix banking-related pain points experienced by today's mobile-first generation
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Fi, a neobank for working professionals, has raised $50 million at a valuation of $315 million from B Capital Group, Falcon Edge, and others in addition to an earlier interim round with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Ribbit Capital.
The latest round boosts valuation seven times over, from their Series A round in 2020 that valued Fi at $45 million.
The Fi app is a savings-friendly product that aims to simplify finances for working professionals. Over a million users had registered on Fi's waitlist to open a savings account, which is an instant, zero-balance savings account with a debit card issued in partnership with Federal Bank.
Early access to Fi was open to only Android users until recently. On popular demand, the neobank launched its iOS app last month.
"The feedback from users has been encouraging and the app has been well received. We have been focused on delivering a banking experience for digital natives that reflects their personality- simple, smart, fun, and flexible. We are going to continue to build on our proposition through ecosystem partnerships and new offerings. The funding is an added bonus that will fuel our growth. It is a reflection of investor confidence in the banking need gap we are trying to address," said Sujith Narayanan, chief executive officer and co-founder, Fi.
Kabir Narang, founding general partner, B Capital Group said they have been looking at neo-banking opportunities across emerging markets and are excited to be investing in Fi.
"Fi is focused on serving the pressing financial needs of 60 million digitally savvy millennials in India. This is a large, attractive, and growing market, especially in the backdrop of $180 ARPU for top retail banks in the country. Fi is building a modern banking product that is receiving rave reviews from users of the Fi app and debit card. We are excited to partner with Fi and its exceptional team that is reimagining consumer banking."
Users onboarded on Fi during early access were quick to take to the features specifically designed to help them save. About 20 percent of users opened Smart Deposits to start their savings journey.
The Smart Deposit combines the best features of the Fixed Deposit (FD) and the Recurring Deposit (RD) to help users save towards their goals on their own terms.
"We have observed that there is inertia towards saving amongst digital natives. They want to save but never actually get to taking proactive steps towards saving. While designing the features for Fi, we have tried to keep the user at the centre and build tools that help them overcome this inertia. The uptake of some of these features validates our efforts," commented Sumit Gwalani, co-founder, Fi.
