Visa closes $5 million investment as part of Open’s Series C fundraise

Payments technology and card company Visa has closed its investment of $5 million in Open which was part of the neobank’s $100 million Series C fundraise, said sources aware of the development.

On October 12, Open had said that it raised $100 million led by Temasek and with participation from Google and Japan’s SBI Investment. Moneycontrol was the first to report that Visa too was part of the round.

The round which valued Open at $500 million also saw investment from existing investors Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital. The round also marked Google’s fourth investment in the Indian startup space after Glance and DailyHunt in December 2020, followed by the acquisition of social commerce player Simsim through YouTube this year.

Founded in 2017 by Anish Achutan, Ajeesh Achutan, Mabel Chacko, and Deena Jacob, Open focusses on small and medium-sized businesses by offering them a business current account. The account includes services like digital banking, payments, invoicing, and automated bookkeeping services.

The startup had said that it will use the funding to accelerate its new product lines, expand its user base and foray into global markets like South East Asia, Europe, and the US.

Open also counts BEENEXT, AngelList, Tanglin Investment Partners, Unicorn India Ventures, Speedinvest, and Recruit as its investors.

Amid the startup funding boom, Open is also keen on achieving the unicorn status soon to continue maintaining its competitive edge in the competitive neobanks space. Currently, the neo bank space is made up of players like RazorpayX, Khatabook, Jupiter, and Fi that facilitate digital banking for individual customers as well as small and medium enterprises.

Razorpay, valued at $3 billion is scaling its neo banking platform RazorpayX and Khatabook too recently raised $100 million, growing its valuation to $600 million.