Globally the fintech scene was seeing record funding rounds in 2021, India being a global fintech powerhouse similarly experienced a stellar year of growth and funding.

Startups in the space raised a record of US$6.9 billion, up 331% from the US$1.6 billion raised in 2020, data from Venture Intelligence show.

Several high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs) also took place, including PB Fintech, the operator of Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, and One97 Communications, the owner of payment specialist Paytm.

As the fintech momentum continues in 2022, we look today at the 10 Indian fintech startups that have raised the most funding. These have made notable strides over the past year, gaining financial support from prominent investors and witnessing strong growth, and are worth keeping a close eye on.

This list excludes fintech firms that have gone public.

Pine Labs – US$927 million

Founded in India in 1998, Pine Labs is a leading merchant commerce platform serving over 150,000 merchants in India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Pine Labs provides merchant software platform and point-of-sale (PoS) machines. The platform powers offline and online last-mile retail transactions, provides customer insights to merchants for targeted sales, and offers risk-managed financial solutions for merchants’ business growth.

The company claims it processes over 550 million digital transactions every year, reaching more than 100 million retail customers.

Pine Labs, which has raised a total of US$927 million in funding, according to CB Insights, confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in New York earlier this year. People familiar with the matter told the Straits Times that the listing could give Pine Labs a valuation of about US$5.5 billion to US$7 billion.

OfBusiness – US$855 million

Founded in 2016, OfBusiness is a tech-enabled platform intended to facilitate raw material procurement and credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The startup also offers integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) products including BidAssist as part of its value-added services.

OfBusiness aims to serve as a single-window for SMEs in the manufacturing and infrastructure space to provide unsecured credit lines as an alternate to financing. SMEs can use this limit for cost-effective procurement of raw material.

The company, which claims over 2,000 suppliers and more than 5,000 clients, reported in September 2021 a 4x year-over-year (YoY) growth, with its commerce revenue run rate surpassing US$1.2 billion, and a loan book size of US$220 million.

OfBusiness has raised about US$855 million in funding, according to data from Dealroom and CB Insights, and is valued at US$5 billion.

Razorpay – US$741 million

Razorpay is a full-stack financial services company providing businesses with a comprehensive suite of payment solutions.

Established in 2014, the company claims more to have more than 8 million business customers including the likes of Facebook, Zomato and Cred. As of early December 2021, it achieved US$60 billion in total payment volume (TPV), clocking over 300% growth on a YoY basis.

Earlier this month, Razorpay acquired a majority stake in Malaysian payments startup Curlec at valuations of more than US$19 million as part of its expansion plan into Southeast Asia. The deal marked Razorpay’s fourth acquisition overall and its first in a foreign country.

Razorpay has raised US$741 million in funding, according to Fortune India, and is valued at US$7.5 billion.

BharatPe – US$700 million

Founded in 2018, BharatPe caters to small merchants and businessowners, providing them with a range of fintech products including interoperable QR code for UPI payments, Bharat Swipe, a PoS machine, for card acceptance, and small business financing.

The company claims a network of over 6 million merchants, more than 50,000 PoS machines deployed, an annualized TPV of US$7.5 billion, and says it is the country’s leader in UPI offline transactions. In addition, since its launch, the company says it has disbursed loans worth US$374 million to more than 300,000 merchants.

BharatPe raised US$370 million in a funding round led by investment giant Tiger Global, giving the company a valuation of US$2.85 billion. According to data from CB Insights and Dealroom, BharatPe has raised about US$700 million in funding.

Cred – US$700 million

Founded in 2018, Cred is the developer of a credit card payment application that rewards users who pay their credit card bills on time with offers and discounts on shopping, health services, and other sites. It says that the users can manage multiple credit cards easily and pay their bills from a single interface through online banking, United Payments Interface (UPI), India’s real-time payment system, and an autopay feature.

For businesses, Cred also provides commerce offerings such as visibility and network services for independent brands to connect with the users on the platform.

The company, which claims a userbase of 7.5 million members, raised US$251 million funding in a Series E investment round in October 2021 at a US$4.01 billion valuation, nearly double its previous valuation at US$2.2 billion. The round brought its total funding to about US$700 million, according to a report by Fortune India.

Acko General Insurance – US$450 million

Founded in 2016, Acko General Insurance is an insurtech startup providing offerings in auto, health and travel insurance segments. The company promises customers a hassle-free claim settlement experience by keeping the entire process online and automated.

Acko General Insurance has partnered with the likes of cab-aggregator Ola and Amazon to offer bite-sized insurance covers which are made available through their respective apps. It says it is serving over 70 million customers and claims to clock a run-rate of nearly US$150 million in premiums.

Acko General Insurance closed a US$255 million funding round in October 2021, bringing its total funding amount to US$450 million, according to a report by the Economic Times. The company is valued at US$1.1 billion.

Digit Insurance – US$442 million

Founded in 2016, Digit Insurance is an insurtech startup that offers health, car, bike, and travel insurance. The company uses technology to simplify processes for their customers, enabling for instance smartphone-enabled self-inspection and audio claims.

In July 2021, the startup claimed it served 20 million customers and had processed 400,000 claims. In 2020, it grew by 44% with a premium of 320 billion INR (US$4.3 billion).

Digit Insurance raised US$200 million last year in what it claims was “one of the biggest funding rounds in the Indian insurance industry.” The round brought its total funding to US$442 million and valuation of US$3.5 billion.

Groww – US$399 million

Founded in 2016, Groww is a neobroker that allows Indian retail investors to invest in mutual funds, stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and initial public offerings (IPOs).

The company claims to serve more than 20 million customers, with nearly 70% of its customer base residing in smaller cities and towns in India. It says two-thirds of its registered users are first-time investors.

In October 2021, Groww raised US$251 million in a Series E funding round, bringing its total funding to more than US$399 million, according to data from CB Insights.

The company said it will use the proceeds to continue expanding its business operations to reach the under-penetrated geographies, strengthen its team, scale up its infrastructure, add more financial products and services to its platform, and make investments in spreading financial education and awareness.

Groww is valued at US$3 billion.

Slice – US$303 million

Founded in 2015, Slice is a market leading card-issuing firms in India. The so-called “credit card challenger” lets customers enjoy up to 2% cashback on every transaction, and shop anywhere and slip all their bills over three months without any extra charges, among other features.

The company has partnered with major online e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal, and PayTM, where customers can use its credit lines to purchase products.

Slice says it is issuing over 200,000 cards each month, making the startup the third largest card issuer in India after two banks. Slice also claims it has a waitlist of over a million users, and boasts seven million registered members.

In November 2021, the startup closed a US$220 million Series B funding round, reaching unicorn status. According to data from CB Insights, Slice has raised about US$303 million in funding.

CoinSwitch Kuber – US$300 million

Founded in 2017, CoinSwitch Kuber claims it is the largest cryptocurrency trading platform India with a user base of more than 15 million and monthly transaction volume of 150 billion INR (US$2 billion).

On the platform, users can trade more than 80 crypto, including bitcoin, litecoin, ether and XRP, and have access to a wide range of payment options, instant deposits and withdrawals, and a fast know-your-customer (KYC) process.

In October 2021, CoinSwitch Kuber raised over US$260 million at a valuation of US$1.9 billion. The round brought the total amount raised by the company to US$300 million, according to CB Insights data.

The startup said it will use the new capital injection to grow its user base to 50 million, introduce new crypto products such as lending for retail investors and ramp up its technology workforce. It also wants to tap institutional clients and set up an ecosystem fund.

Featured image edited based on photo by Laurentiu Morariu via Unsplash