Zolve, a neobank enabling global access to financial services, today announced the closing of Rs 300 crore in Series A funding. This funding round raises the 10-month old company’s valuation to Rs 1,575 crore.
The round was led by Partners of DST Global, Tiger Global, Alkeon Capital, as well as existing investors Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The funding amount will be used to rapidly scale the company’s financial services platform, it said in a press release.
What does Zolve do?
On the basis of their home country credit score, Zolve provides immigrants - working professionals and students, bound to the US with access to FDIC-insured bank accounts, high-limit credit cards, and debit cards - without the need for an SSN (social security number) or US credit history - while they are still in their home countries. Zolve is on course to become a full-stack financial services provider with products focused on instant remittance, insurance, and loans in the pipeline, the press release added.
The new round of funding comes just 7 months after announcing a large seed round of Rs 112.5 crores, which saw the participation of Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and a host of other marquee investors.
With these additional funds, Zolve intends to enhance the user experience for global citizens, allowing them to open their US accounts in minutes. Moreover, the funds will help speed the expansion of the service to more countries, increasing the number of people who can seize the opportunity to start building their financial futures globally. Further, Zolve is looking to grow its partner network and recruit stellar talent in the US and India to launch more products and open access to more countries.
“While we intended to start with a small cohort of 500 users, we were oversubscribed by almost 90x from working professionals and students within the first few weeks. This incredible traction has been far beyond what we had envisioned and clearly demonstrates that there is a tangible need for a service that provides global citizens equitable access to financial products,” said Raghunandan G, CEO and Founder of Zolve. “We look forward to expanding the scale and reach of our products, helping even more immigrants globally to achieve their dreams.”
“Zolve is among the few startups I’ve seen that achieved product-market fit right out of the gate. Given that the US is a country with immigrants in its DNA, it’s surprising how long it has taken someone to solve the issues that new immigrants experience with the traditional banking system,” said Anand Daniel of Accel.
“Access to tailored and fair financial products has a direct and meaningful impact on people's lives," said Bejul Somaia, Partner, Lightspeed.
