This Fin-tech Startup Is Looking To Strengthen Its Technology Backend For Providing Curated Financial Services Kaleidofin has closed its Series A round of funding at INR 360 million, led by impact investor, Oikocredit
By Shreya Ganguly •
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At a time when India is experiencing a boom in the fin-tech space, Chennai-based fin-tech startup Kaleidofin has closed its Series A round of funding at INR 360 million, led by impact investor, Oikocredit. Existing investors, Silicon Valley-based venture firm Flourish and Omidyar Network India doubled down on their investments in the previous round.
Apart from this, previous investors including Blume Ventures, angel investor Prof. Shlomo Ben-Haim, and Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund also participated in this round and doubled its stake in the company.
"At Kaleidofin, we have reimagined the way financial services are designed and accessed by the lower income groups. Our solutions take into account the financial roadblocks and vulnerability that these segments, such as volatile income streams and limited understanding of the fine print in financial products, " said Sucharita Mukherjee, Kaleidofin CEO and cofounder.
Plans With The Fund
Mukherjee revealed that the funds will be deployed to strengthen the company's technology backend and invest the fund for further growth opportunities. According to reports,before this round, the startup had raised $2.2 M seed funding in April 2018.
According to the official statement, Kaleidofin is Oikocredit's first equity investment in the fin-tech sector in India. "With Kaleidofin as our first equity investment in the Indian fin-tech sector, we want to promote and be part of the responsible offering of savings and insurance products to the low-income segments of the population. We are confident of the social impact that technology can make in improving access to formal financial services and Kaleidofin team's understanding of the customer's requirements. We look forward to working with them," said Anirudh Sarda, Equity Officer, Oikocredit.
What Does Kaleidofin Do?
Founded in 2017 by Sucharita Mukherjee and Puneet Gupta, Kaleidofin offers curated, goal-based financial solutions to users from the underbanked segments using financial planning and wealth management principles.
According to the company, it comes up with its solutions after understanding the financial goals of the household, its main sources of financial vulnerability, preferences, and tolerance toward financial risk. It creates individual "personas" of households through multiple sources of information, such as the demographic profile, income sources, asset ownership, among others, to tailor specific financial solutions for its customers.
Generally, Kaleidofin's solution comprises of a combination of savings, investment, credit, and insurance products focused on creating financial resiliency. The goal-linked financial solution approach ensures no cognitive burden, otherwise required in financial planning.
Kaleidofin claims to have over 50,000 customers spread across 10 states in India. It has nearly 30 network partners including MFIs, corporates, and NGOs.
