Accel-backed fintech Uni raises Rs 50 crore in debt from Stride Ventures

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Accel and Lightspeed-backed fintech startup Uni has raised Rs 50 crore in venture debt from Stride Ventures, one of India’s leading venture debt firms.

Stride Ventures also plans to become a strategic partner of Uni, with the debt investment, the venture debt firm said in a statement on June 8.

Uni, which also counts General Catalyst, Eight Roads, and Elevation Capital as its backers, offers pay later cards that automatically split every transaction into three parts, which is then to be paid over three months for no extra charges.

Founded by Nitin Gupta, Prateek Jindal, and Laxmikant Vyas in 2020, Uni launched its flagship product, Uni Pay 1/3rd Card, in June 2021. The fintech startup raised $70 million as a part of its Series A funding round in December last year led by General Catalyst, Eight Roads, and Elevation Capital.

“With the Pay 1/3rd card, we are addressing the need for flexibility while providing a rich customer experience that is cut above the rest,” said Nitin Gupta, founder, and chief executive officer of Uni.

“While there is no dearth of demand for credit products in India, matching the right customer profile with the right product is very important to build a sustainable business. With a deep understanding of credit risk we have ensured the right fundamentals are baked into each of our products,” Gupta added.

Uni claims to be active in over 130 cities across India, including all major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, and Jaipur.

Uni also offers consumers the flexibility to convert transactions to ‘pay in full’ at the end of the 30 day free credit period and it gives them a cashback of 1 percent as a reward.

“We are delighted to partner with Uni on their mission to change the way people interact with credit,” said Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, founder, and managing partner at Stride Ventures.

“Nitin and the team working behind Uni have a deep understanding of the fintech ecosystem which they have utilised to create a well-differentiated and highly flexible credit solutions product in the form of the Pay 1/3rd card,” Gandhi added.

Uni’s debt fundraise comes at a time when equity funding to Indian startups is slowing. Consequently, many startups, especially the ones that need cash to survive, are shifting to offshore debt and venture debt.

In a recent media interview, Gandhi had said that venture debt funding rose 100 percent in 2021 from 2020 and Stride Ventures was doing disbursement of Rs 100 crore a month.

Venture debt essentially is debt financing or loans, raised by venture capital-backed companies. Many early-stage and high-growth startups avail this route in a bid to avoid diluting equity stake.