Moneyview turns Unicorn with fresh funding; acquires employee benefit startup Jify

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Consumer lending platform Moneyview has entered the unicorn club (used to describe a privately held startup company with a valuation of over $1 billion) following a new funding round from its existing investors, Accel India and Nexus Venture Partners.

The Tiger Global-backed firm has also acquired employee benefit startup Jify. The Mumbai-based startup partners with corporations to offer their employees a zero-cost, real-time access to their salaries in advance. It had raised $10 million in funding from Accel, Nexus Venture Partners in June last year, and is backed investors, including Amica Financial Technologies, VCAPL, Qed Innovation Labs among others.

This deal will enable Moneyview to enhance its financial services platform by expanding into employee-focused solutions, strengthening its offerings across credit, savings, and investment products, while deepening its reach into the financially underserved workforce.

The acquisition involved share swap whereby Accel and Nexus the existing investors of Jify were allotted shares of Moneyview.

Meanwhile, Moneyview's board approved a special resolution to issue 60,23,382 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 64.15 each, raising Rs 38.64 crore (approximately $4.65 million), per Registrar of Companies (RoC) filings sourced.

The lending firm's post-allotment valuation now stands at Rs 10,086 crore or $1.2 billion, according to data from startup intelligence platform TheKredible. This marks a jump from its previous valuation of $900 million in December 2022 when Tiger Global led a $75 million funding round.

Investors’ buzz has been growing around lending startups since the last six months, particularly the ones housing NBFCs. FlexiLoan recently bagged Rs 290 crore while Mintifi and Sarvagram are in talks for fresh funding.  The traction comes amidst fintech-NBFCs riding the wave of tech-driven growth and regulatory clarity.

Founded a decade ago by Puneet Agarwal and Sanjay Aggarwal, Moneyview, which houses NBFC--Whizdm Finance Private Limited (WFPL)-offers personal and home loans, credit cards, credit score monitoring, motor insurance, and loans against property. Besides WFPL, the firm has partnership with DMI Finance, Northern Arn, Incred Finance, Vivitri, Oxyzo among other to offer loans.

In FY23, the Bengaluru-based fintech firm's operating revenue jumped 2.6X to Rs 577 crore while profits increased 27X to Rs 163 crore. Its FY24 numbers are yet to be disclosed. As of April 2024, MoneyView had disbursed loans over 12,000 crore.

In 2024, six startups — Moneyview, Krutrim, Perfios, Porter, Rapido, and Ather — have achieved unicorn status.