Fintech Making a Killing with These Top #5 Investments in First Half of 2017 With demonetization, the alternative lending platforms got a great boost and lending in the SME sector got an all-time high
By Sanchita Dash •
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The year 2017 has already seen many fintech achievements that will go a long way in charting a history of their own in future. From PaytM, breaking records as one of the highly funded companies of Asia to it opening a payments bank, the fintech sector has seen a lot of money being pumped into it.
As we step into the second half of the year, Entrepreneur India takes a look at this year's highest fintech investments so far.
The Investment That Made the World Take Notice
Of course we are talking about PaytM here. With an investment of $1.4billion from Japanese Conglomerate Softbank, the payments wallet and marketplace that recently turned into a payments bank, had fintech enthusiasts from all around the world sit up and pay attention to the Indian fintech sector. The company is setting a target of creating over 500 million users.
Another Digital Wallet Takes the Cake
Not too far behind is MobiKwik with its investment of $928 million. The digital wallet company raised the series C round of funding from its existing investors Cisco Investments India Ltd and the Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd. According to reports, MobiKwik will use the money from this funding round to innovate and develop new products and expand its team further to increase its user base.
InsurTech in the Race
The start-up that intends to change the insurance landscape of India has recently raised $30 million. Acko has raised the round from various investors, including Narayan Murthy's Catamaran Ventures, SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and also Kris Gopalakrishnan. Interestingly, Acko Founder Varun Dua was also one of the co-founders of Coverfox, an online insurance distribution platform. Many of the investors of Coverfox have placed their bets on him again.
Banks on the Lookout
The alternative banking channel Fino PayTech Ltd raised $22 million from ICICI Prudential and ICICI Lombard by offering them a 12 per cent stake. The business and banking technology platform offers its customers financial services. Having been around for over 10 years now, they boast of over 28 million customers across 499 districts, covering almost all states. Fino PayTech is also looking at starting a payments bank.
Rising SME Loans
With demonetization, the alternative lending platforms got a great boost. Lending in the SME sector got an all-time high, and LendingKart which focuses on the same, saw its curve on the graph rise upwards. LendingKart hit headlines recently as they received $7.8million as debt funding from YES Bank. The company will now use these funds to expand to Tier III cities.
