TaxiForSure cofounder's fintech venture Zolve secures $100 million debt facility

Raghunandan G, founder of Zolve

Zolve, a cross-border neo-banking platform, has secured a $100 million warehouse debt facility from San Fransisco-based Community Investment Management (CIM), the startup said on October 11.

Zolve plans to use the $100 million debt fund to offer credit products to migrants in the US, the company said in a media statement.

The warehouse debt facility is a line of credit given to a loan originator. The funds are usually used to pay for a mortgage that a borrower uses to purchase property.

Raghunandan, the founder of Zolve, co-founded the cab aggregator service platform TaxiForSure in 2011. Amid rising competition and the non-availability of venture funds, TaxiFoSure was acquired by Ola for $200 million and was eventually shut down.

In August 2021, Raghunandan launched Zolve, which offers a full-featured financial services app, an FDIC-insured US checking account and a high-limit credit card to new immigrants moving from India to the US in partnership with Community Federal Savings Bank.

"In a world where moving to the US comes with financial roadblocks due to credit accessibility issues, Zolve bridges the gap. The company ensures immigrants can access critical financial products such as bank accounts and credit cards," Raghunandan said.

Since its inception, Zolve claims to have attracted around 500,000 users, facilitating transactions worth more than $600 million. The company’s customer retention is at around 86 percent.

Zolve is planning to expand its geographical presence with the new funding.

"Geographically, the UK, Canada and Australia top the list, given its popularity among Indian immigrants... In the quarters ahead, we're set to broaden our horizons," Raghunandan said.

In February 2021, Zolve raised $15 million in seed funding led by Accel and Lightspeed. In October of the same year, it raised another $40 million in one of India's largest Series A funding rounds.

“Zolve has achieved remarkable growth within only two years of operations while ensuring profitable unit economics amidst a challenging global macro environment,” said Anand Daniel, Partner at Accel, one of Zolve’s early investors.