Fintech startup EarlySalary raises funds

By Raaghav G R

Posted on January 6, 2018

EarlySalary is a Mumbai – based fintech startup. The startup had announced yesterday (05/01/2018) that it has raised Rs. 100 crores in Series B round of funding from the VC firm, Eight Roads Ventures India, which is the investment arm of Fidelity International Ltd. The startup’s existing investors such as IDG Ventures India, Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd. (DHFL) and seed investor, Ashok Agarwal, are also reported to have participated in that round of funding.

EarlySalary offers short-term and small-ticket loans to working professionals. To be precise, the loan term of the startup is just 30 days or one month until the next salary cycle and the startup offers small-ticket loans in the range of Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 1 lakh based on a proprietary algorithm which determines the credit worthiness of an applicant. Working professionals can avail small ticket loans via the startup’s website (www.earlysalary.com) or its mobile app.

EarlySalary was founded by Akshay Mehrotra and Ashish Goyal. Mr Mehrotra previously worked as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Big Bazaar and Mr Goyal was an insurance provider at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. He worked as the company’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO).

EarlySalary will use the funds secured to expand its footprint throughout India and achieve 1,00,000 loan disbursements per month by the end of 2018. The main goal of the startup is to become the first go-to option for Indian middle class working professionals to avail small-ticket loans to meet their monthly expenses. According to Livemint, as part of the investment deal, Dhyanesh Shah, who is the founder of Eight Roads Ventures, will join EarlySalary’s Board of Directors (BoD). Prior to this round of funding led by Eight Roads Ventures, EarlySalary had raised US $4 million (Rs. 26 crores) in Series A round of funding led by IDG Ventures India and DHFL.

The other fintech startups to get funded last year (2017) include the fintech startup, Capital Float, which secured US $ 45 million (Rs 293 crores) in Series C round of funding led by the e-commerce giant, Amazon. The fintech startup, Kissht, secured US $10 million (Rs. 65 crores) in Series A round of funding led by Fosun International during November, 2017. The fintech startup, Lendingkart Finance Limited, secured US $10 million (Rs. 65 crores) in debt funding from Kotak Mahindra Bank, Aditya Birla Financial Services and a few angel investors during August 2017 just to name a few.

Fintech startup EarlySalary raises funds