Fintech startup EarlySalary rasies $4 Million from IDG and DHFL

By Shariq Hussain

Posted on May 11, 2017

Fintech Startup EarlySalary has bagged Series A funding of $4 Million in their fresh round. The funding round was led by IDG Ventures India Advisors and publicly traded lender Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL). Earlier, in 2015, the startup has raised $1.5 million in a seed round from Ashok Agarwal of Trans corp Group.

The Pune-Based startup was founded in 2015 by Akshay Mehrotra and Ashish Goyal. EarlySalary is a salary advance mobile application that enables Indian users to borrow money for urgent cash requirements before they get their monthly wages. It aims to help individuals who face month-end and mid-month financial crisis by providing small loans until they receive their salaries.

EarlySalary claims that have secured more than 3.5 Lakh (350,000) download on mobile Android and iOS devices, and distributed “over” 15,000 loans. Their current product is a 30-day unsecured loan ranging in value between Rs 8,000 and Rs 1,00,000. They charge an average of 2.7 percent on a monthly basis for the loans taken and claims to be cheaper than a credit card.

On the Investment, Akshay Mehrotra, CEO and Co-Founder EarlySalary, said: “We are very excited to have IDG Ventures India and DHFL on board as investors, and this combination and capital will provide the necessary growth impetus and management depth needed to accelerate growth and the innovation process at EarlySalary.”

According to EarlySalary, more than 80% of its customer base is in their first career roles and most of them are new to credit and are first-time borrowers and have distributed more than 15,000 loans to 5,000 customers. The startup aims to increase 200,000 loans across 50,000 customers by the end of this fiscal year. The fresh funds will be used in product development, customer acquisition and expanding the team.

Commenting on their investment, Karthik Prabhakar, director, IDG Ventures India Advisors, said: “We believe fintech firms are changing the way India will bank and EarlySalary’s capability of using social media based underwriting decisioning will help many young working professionals get access to credit which is otherwise not possible.” Read more about Indian Startup Ecosystem.

Fintech startup EarlySalary rasies $4 Million from IDG and DHFL