FloBiz raises $ 31 million to grow its neobank for small businesses in India – TechCrunch
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FloBiz, an Indian startup that is building a neobank for small and medium-sized businesses in the South Asian market, said on Monday it had raised $ 31 million in a new round of funding as it strives to expand its product offering.
Sequoia Capital India and Think Investments co-led the 18-month startup’s Series B funding round. Existing investors Elevation Capital and Beenext also participated in the roundtable, which brings FloBizthe all-time increase to over $ 41 million.
The startup’s flagship offering, called myBillBook, helps small and midsize businesses digitize their invoicing, streamline corporate accounting, and automate their business workflows.
India, the world’s second largest internet market, is home to millions of small and medium-sized businesses. Dozens of startups have launched neobanks across the country in recent years to focus on serving millennials or businesses.
“SME-focused neobanks strengthen engagement with corporate clients through their ability to provide solutions such as automated invoicing, receipts / payments, accounting, inventory and sales management, taxes and, in in some cases, interest on open deposits as well (banks cannot pay the interest). This can help increase and accelerate their prospects for monetization, â€Jefferies analysts wrote in a report to clients last week.
myBillBook, which supports Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil as well as English, will support “at least” five other regional languages ​​over the next six months, the startup said, adding that the app had been downloaded over 5 million times.
The product will also see a more in-depth use of technologies such as AI and image processing to make the onboarding process for less tech-savvy SME owners in India’s Tier 2 and 3 cities. a delicious first step towards digital accounting, â€said the startup.
Dozens of top entrepreneurs – including Vijay Shekhar Sharma from Paytm, Kunal Shah from CRED, Jiten Gupta from Jupiter, Amrish Rau from Pine Labs, Krishnan Menon from BukuKas and Nitin Gupta from Uni Cards – have also supported FloBiz in the new round financing.
“Small businesses are the real heroes of our economy. In order to propel the SME economy with technology, it takes a deep understanding, instinct and empathy for this audience, â€Tejeshwi Sharma, Managing Director of Sequoia Capital India, said in a statement.
“We are really impressed with the user orientation, product orientation and experimental approach of the founders of FloBiz. There is almost a perfect fit in the Founders’ Market. The team is delighted to partner with FloBiz in its mission to create a neobank for growing Indian SMEs. “
Rahul Raj, co-founder and CEO of FloBiz, said the startup will deploy the new capital to “accelerate projects that have been underway so far – building customizable modules and features in myBillBook, diversifying offerings commodity and prepare to roll over to financial services. We have many developments in the works to further delight our SME partners over the next 12 months. “
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