BankBazaar Adds $3.8 Million to Series D

BankBazaar Adds $3.8 Million to Series D

Indian online financial products marketplace BankBazaar has boosted its current Series D round by $3.8 million. The capital comes from Amazon and Walden SKT Venture Fund, who have joined Sequoia, GUS Holdings, and Eight Roads Investments in the round. This week’s investment adds to the $30 million in Series D funds BankBazaar raised in 2017. Fellow Finovate alum Experian is the lead investor in the round.

The investment is also the second time Amazon has put capital in the company, having contributed $60 million to BankBazaar’s Series C round in 2015. The company’s total funding stands at north of $115 million.

BankBazaar offers consumers instant customized rate quotes on financial products like loans, mutual funds, and insurance. BankBazaar’s platform enables shoppers to compare offers and apply for products online as well as via its mobile app. More than 50 of India’s top financial companies and insurance firms are featured on BankBazaar’s platform, which also provides information on personal finance trends and tips on how consumers can manage their finances better.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Chennai, India, BankBazaar has been a Finovate alum since 2012 when the company demoed its real-time credit processing platform. Last year, the company announced a partnership with furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry, teamed up with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank for Personal Loans, and added business cards to its offerings courtesy of a collaboration with Yes Bank.

Earlier this year, BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty told LiveMint that the company was “on track” to reach profitability in fiscal 2020 and that he was looking to take the company public “in the next few years.” He added that the company has more than 40 million registered customers and recently experienced an average 46% gain in monthly revenue. This was immediately before the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic became clear to many, a topic the company addressed in an open letter last month.

“Digital demand is only going to increase as consumers seek to minimize all physical interactions during and post COVID-19 and we are working on a war footing to ensure people get safe digital access to credit,” Shetty wrote along with co-founders Arjun (COO) and Rati (CPO) Shetty. “We are actively working with leading industry bodies and lenders to develop deeper digital access, something that will become the new normal in a post COVID-19 world.”

Qatar Backs SoFi; Ripple Powers Cross-Border Payments in Brazil

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • SoFi announces $500 million investment led by Qatar.
  • Emirates NBD to leverage technology from Amazon Web Services to build an AI-enabled “bank of the future”.
  • New partnership between Turkey’s Isbank and Yandex.Checkout to support transactions in rubles for Russians shopping online in Turkey.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Strands strikes digital banking deal with India’s Tech Mahindra.
  • BankBazaar to offer financing options for customers of furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry.
  • Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, a premier think tank of the Indian government, sees a $31 billion Indian fintech market by 2020.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian exchange brokerage, Frente Corretora de Cambio, goes live with cross-border remittance solution powered by Ripple technology.
  • World Finance features Sao Paulo among its Top 5 Emerging Fintech Hubs.
  • IMFBlog looks at how fintech can lower remittance costs in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • The central bank of Indonesia, Bank Indonesia, unveils its Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS), a new QR code system.
  • Mastercard and UOB partner to introduce the UOB Retail Business Metal Card designed for APAC SMEs.
  • B2B cross border payments company TransferMate picks up payment license in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ghana’s ARB Apex Bank reups with Temenos.
  • Titan Trust Bank of Nigeria chooses Oracle FSS for its core and digital banking technology.
  • CNBCAfrica profiles South African payments and merchant acquiring solutions provider Crossfin.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Lithuania fintech Paysera goes live in Romania.
  • Polish “credit of fintech-as-a-service” innovator Symmetrical.ai raises $1.5 million (€1.3m) in funding.
  • Billon Solutions and Microsoft announce partnership with the University of Warsaw to develop academic use cases for DLT technology.

Top image designed by Freepik

Finovate Global: Vymo Launches in Vietnam; ZagTrader Helps FIs Go Crypto

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • ZagTrader and BeQuant team Up to help institutions go crypto.
  • Temenos partners with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi bank.
  • Emirates NBD to work with Intellect Design Arena for a planned digital transformation of its transaction banking platform.

Central and South Asia

  • BankBazaar announces partnership with Ujjivan Small Finance Bank for Personal Loans.
  • Victoria Commercial Bank Kenya goes live with corporate banking technology powered by i-exceed’s Appzillon.
  • Aurora interviews Bernhard Klemen, international partner with venture capital fund Sarmayacar on opportunities for venture financing for Pakistani fintech startups.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • German challenger bank N26 announces plans to expand to Brazil.
  • BBVA Colombia looks at its role in helping promote fintech innovation in Peru. In Spanish.
  • FXCompared profiles Argentina-based PayPal rival, MercadoLibre.

Asia-Pacific

  • Leading Vietnam-based consumer finance firm, FE Credit, chooses Vymo’s AI-powered personal sales assistant.
  • Bambu and CredoLab earn spots on Fintech News Singapore’s 29 Hottest Fintechs in Singapore 2019 roster.
  • Accenture and nCino partner to better serve FIs in the Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Tymebank goes live with core banking tech from Mambu.
  • Nigerian digital banking solution provider TeamApt raises $5.5 million in funding.
  • South Africa’s Standard Bank to launch private cloud-based distributed ledger platform for payments and settlement.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Russia’s Tinkoff Bank joins the country’s Faster Payments System.
  • Ukraine finishes its pilot project, begun in December, in support of its national digital currency, the e-hryvnia.
  • UK-based Rimilia and Association of Credit for Central and Eastern Europe to promote adoption of AI-based technologies to automate AR in the CEE region.

Top image designed by Freepik

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Enveil, Unbound Tech Bring Data Security Triad to the Enterprise.

Around the web

  • CardFlight teams up with JetPay to give U.S. SMEs broader payment acceptance options.
  • Bahrain-based third-party PSP, SINNAD, launches a new processing platform built on Compass Plus’ TranzWare and TranzAxis.
  • Accenture to acquire management consultancy and technology services provider, Orbium.
  • BankBazaar adds business cards to its online marketplace for financial products courtesy of a partnership with Yes Bank.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazil’s Nubank announces debit options for its digital savings account.
  • Infocorp spinoff Bankingly raises $5.25 million in Series A funding in round led by Elevar Equity.
  • Vocalink to modernize Peru’s electronic payments infrastructure courtesy of new deal with the company’s automated clearinghouse, Cámara de Compensación Electrónica (CCE).

Asia-Pacific

  • UNPay expands QR code payments.
  • Indonesian lending and payments firm, Pohon Dana, picks up investment from Mayapada Group.
  • PaySend launches transfers to bank accounts and Napas cards in Vietnam.
  • Fenergo wins Fintech Exporter of the Year award from Asia Matters.
  • Juvo expands across Asia with regional headquarters in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Experian purchases South African credit information and analytics firm Compuscan for $263 million.
  • Ecobank partners with MFS Africa to offer cross-platform digital payments to customers.
  • Emergent Technology acquires Ghana-based Interpay Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Sberbank offers clients new strategies for investment life insurance.
  • Finastra opens new offices in Romania.
  • Backbase powers omni-channel digital services for Poland’s BGŻ BNP Paribas bank.
  • International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) to deploy technology from FICO to fight money laundering.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE and Saudi Arabia launch blockchain-powered, cross-border payments proof of concept.
  • Temenos announces partnership with Tunisia’s Banque de l’Habitat.
  • Token brings open banking to MENA region.

Central and South Asia

  • James Finance, Ocrolus, Hydrogen, and iProov shortlisted for India FinTech Awards 2018.
  • Currencies Direct taps Ripple’s xCurrent for real-time remittances to India.
  • Fintech News Singapore features BankBazaar in its round up of 10 Hot Fintech Startups from India to Watch Closely.

Top image designed by Freepik

BankBazaar CEO Honored at India FinTech Awards 2017

BankBazaar CEO Honored at India FinTech Awards 2017

Adhil Shetty, CEO of BankBazaar, was recognized by the India FinTech Awards 2017 earlier this month. Shetty was named Fintech Leader of the Year at the event, which featured more than 200 attendees, more than 40 speakers, and 20 shortlisted startups from six countries.

“Today, paperless, presenceless transactions are becoming the face of digital finance,” Shetty said. “It is heartening to see our vision of paperless access to all financial products for every Indian being accepted and validated not just by our customers and partners but also by the industry experts at IFTA 2017.”

Sponsored by the India FinTech forum, which seeks to highlight the growing fintech community in India and ensure its role in driving fintech innovation worldwide, the India FinTech Awards is the largest, demo-based, fintech event in India. This year’s presentation included product demonstrations by 20 companies, with the winner earning a spot on stage at the Paris Fintech Forum in January 2018.

BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty receiving an award for Fintech Leader of the Year at the India FinTech Awards 2017.

This year’s top honors went to ZestMoney, which was awarded Fintech Startup of the Year, and its CEO and co-founder Lizzie Chapman, who was recognized as Woman Leader in Fintech. Chapman called the Startup of the Year award “recognition of the hard work we have put into building a product and platform that completely changes the way people access credit in this market.”

ZestMoney enables consumers to pay using digital EMI (equated monthly installment), avoiding the need for credit cards and credit scores. Headquartered in Bangalore, India and founded in 2015, the company has raised more than $8 million in funding and includes PayU and Omidyar Network among its investors.

Kickstart Accelerator and YES Fintech won the Accelerator of the Year award.  Also honored at the event was InstaReM, a cross-border remittance and money transfer startup founded in 2014, that participated in our FinovateAsia Startup Showcase earlier this month. InstaReM was recognized as a Fintech Rising Star at IFTA 2017, along with fellow contestants Niki.ai and Zeta. Finovate alum FixNix also participated in the competition.

The good news for BankBazaar comes at the same time the company announced a series of new upgrades to its mobile app. These enhancements include gold, silver, and fuel rate trackers, as well as personalized graphs and visualizations to better see and understand expenses. The app, which has garnered more than one million downloads, will also aggregate a number of features onto a single interface for easier use. “Our mission has been to help consumers access the right financial products and make their financial journey simpler,” Rati Shetty, Chief Product Officer for BankBazaar told DataQuest.

Last month, BankBazaar announced closing a $30 million funding round led by Experian. The two companies have partnered to develop a Credit Score Tracker that gives Indian consumers a secure free credit score as well as educational information on how to use financial planning to improve credit scores.

“There is a natural synergy between the world’s largest information management company and one of the fasted growing fintech companies,” Shetty said. “The funds from this round will be used to further strengthen our position as the leader in secure, paperless access to loans, cards, and mutual funds.” The investment brings BankBazaar’s total funding to $110 million.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Chennai, India, BankBazaar demonstrated its Real Time Credit Processing Platform at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BankBazaar CEO Honored at India FinTech Awards 2017.

Around the web

  • ACI Worldwide inks licensing agreement with Payworks.
  • PayPal introduces new Invoicing Extension for with Facebook Messenger.
  • Commercial Bank of Ceylon embraces digital banking solution from Fiserv.
  • ThreatMetrix boosts speed, improves accuracy and reliability with Winter 2018 release of its digital identity network.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

BankBazaar Receives $30 Million in Funding Round Led by Experian

BankBazaar Receives $30 Million in Funding Round Led by Experian

India-based online credit processing platform BankBazaar is sure to have a happy Diwali this year. That’s because the company has landed $30 million in a Series D funding round led by Experian.

The company didn’t name other contributors to today’s round, but cited existing backers Amazon, Sequoia, Eight Roads (Fidelity Growth Partners) and Walden International, who have helped boost BankBazaar’s total funding to $110 million. “The funds from this round will be used to further strengthen our position as the leader in secure paperless access to loans, cards, and Mutual Funds,” said BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty. The company also noted that it will use the funds to support international expansion efforts. BankBazaar has already made inroads into Singapore and is considering further expanding into Asia, the Middle East, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, UAE, and the Philippines.

Founded in 2008, BankBazaar serves as a single platform where users can shop for and access a variety of financial products, including mortgages, personal loans, car loans, credit cards, fixed deposit accounts, and insurance offered by more than 75 financial institutions. The company began focusing on paperless finance last year, when it introduced paperless loan applications. Shetty expects Experian to help it “accelerate towards [its] vision of paperless access to all financial products.”

Ben Elliott, CEO of Experian Asia Pacific, said, “We believe that consumer adoption of fully digital experiences coupled with paperless access to financial products will push customer acquisition 10X by 2020. With e-commerce shoppers growing significantly over the next few years, companies with paperless technology platforms are well-positioned to leverage the latest trends in consumer technology and help millions of Indians gain access to formal banking and finance products, further enabling financial inclusion for millions of underserved consumers.”

BankBazaar demoed its real-time credit processing platform at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore. The company recently partnered with Experian to offer users access to view their credit score for free. Last year, BankBazaar was awarded the ‘Emerging Brand of the Year’ and ‘CEO of the Year’ awards at the 7th CMO Asia Awards in Singapore for Excellence in Branding and Marketing.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BankBazaar Receives $30 Million in Funding Round Led by Experian.
  • Feedzai Secures $50 Million in New Funding.
  • BlueVine Lands $130 Million in Debt Financing.
  • Sensibill Brings Receipt Management to Royal Bank of Scotland’s Business Banking Customers.

Around the web

  • Entersekt hires Sherif Samy as SVP for North American operations.
  • Visa and Billtrust team up to streamline B2B payment reconciliation and support automation of virtual card payments.
  • PayPal announces Vemno is now payment option at more than two million U.S. retailers.
  • Narrative Science wins Microsoft Office 2017 App Award for Best Business Value.
  • TransCard partners with ExpenseAnywhere to Deliver Automated Payment Process Management Solutions.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BioCatch and Experian Form Partnership.
  • Finovate Debuts: Icon Solutions’ Instant Payments Helps Keep Banks PSD2 Compliant.

Around the web

  • unblu receives European patent protection for 3rd generation co-browsing technology.
  • Bluefin Payment Systems earns EMV certification from First Data.
  • Payment solutions provider Buckaroo chooses AML solution from Fiserv.
  • Tech Loop interviews GMC Software Technology’s Michaela Rýdlová and Jan Růža.
  • Infosys recognized as “major player” in IDC MarketScape: Service Providers for EMA Utilities Vendor Assessment.
  • Quantopian to deploy order/execution management technology from FlexTrade.
  • BusinessWorld profiles BankBazaar and co-founder Rati Shetty.
  • Neener Analytics accepted into the Citibank WorldwideT4I Accelerator. Come see Neener Analytics at FinovateSpring on April 26  & 27.
  • Standard Chartered announces digital wealth advisory tool

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Fintech Favorites: Blockchain, the Banks, and the Underbanked”
  • Lleida.net Brings Connectaclick to Ecuador’s Banco Pichincha.

Around the web

  • Swiss fintech innovator Net Guardians to deploy its security solution, FraudGuardian, with National Bank of Malawi.
  • iSignthis partners with Leverate Financial Services, providing the online FX and CFD broker with its full Paydentity solution.
  • YourStory profiles Finovate newcomer MarketsMojo and its plan to make equity investing mainstream.
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine features Fintura in a look at the fintech scene in Frankfurt.
  • True Potential wins approval as workplace pension adviser from The Pensions Regulator.
  • PayPal reports mobile shopping represented a third of sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
  • Lighter Capital named the fastest growing private tech company in Washington state.
  • LTP lists BankBazaar, CoverHound, InforcePRO, and Sureify on its list of revolutionary insuretech startups.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Debuts: How the Kore Bots Deliver More than Your Average Chatbot
  • DriveWealth Expands APIs for Wealth Managers
  • Braintree, Finicity, and Twilio Take Top Honors at API World Awards

Around the web

  • BankBazaar wins “Emerging Brand of the Year” and “CEO of the Year” at seventh CMO Asia Awards.
  • Fintech News Switzerland highlights Currency Cloud and Zopa in a look at London’s top rising fintech stars.
  • Boku brings direct carrier billing to Windows 10 phones in the United Kingdom and Italy.
  • Markit enhances WSO software suite to offer new levels of automation for syndicated loan market.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.