Slice, an Indian fintech company, announced on Monday that it has raised $220 million in a Series B round, valuing it at more than $1 billion. Tiger Global and New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners led the deal. Slice is a credit card competitor that allows you to pay bills, monitor finances, and earn rewards.
“We’ve kept our heads down in the initial years and focused solely on simplifying the consumer journey and creating a cutting-edge risk underwriting system,” said Rajan Bajaj, Founder, and CEO.
The round was also attended by new and current investors such as Advent International’s Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Anfa, Gunosy, Blume Ventures, and 8i.
Tiger Global and Insight Partners co-led the Series B financing for the Bangalore-based business. Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Anfa, and current investors Gunosy, Blume Ventures, and 8i from Advent International also participated.
Slice has established itself as one of the market-leading card-issuing firms in India. The startup offers several cards that are aimed at tech-savvy young professionals in the country. “These users have been on Instagram and Snapchat for years,” said Bajaj of Slice customers.
“The bar for consumer design is very high for them. We don’t have to educate them on how to navigate the app. It’s intuitive for them. They want simplicity and transparency,” he said.
In India, the credit card industry is huge and relatively unexplored.
Even though almost a billion Indians have bank accounts, only a small portion of this population is served by the South Asian country’s fledgling credit rating system.
As we have previously stated, Indian banks heavily depend on antiquated procedures to establish an individual’s creditworthiness and eligibility for a credit card. Their conclusion: it’s too hazardous to provide most Indians with a credit card or even a loan.
Slice is addressing this by developing its underwriting mechanism. Such is its faith in its underwriting system that, in September of this year, it created a card with a $27 limit — an option inspired by a request from a potential client —to reach the country’s 200 million people. Bajaj (shown above) stated that the new card is quickly gaining acceptance, but he declined to provide any data. Slice has more than 5 million registered users.
The business provides Slice consumers with a variety of benefits, including the opportunity to pay the bill in many instalments stretched over three months at no cost, as well as access to discounts on purchases from a variety of companies.
“Slice has built a product that customers love, which we expect will result in the continued growth and market share gains,” said Alex Cook, a partner at Tiger Global, in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Rajan and the team as they expand access to credit and deliver best-in-class customer experience.”
Slice’s UPI service will be the first to use &ID. He also stated that the firm is looking to employ additional workers. Slice stated last month that it is providing recruits a three-day week with consistent salary and benefits to attract talent who wants to work on other projects — or do anything else they want — at the same time.
