[Funding alert] Oikocredit leads Rs 36 Cr Series A round in fintech platform Kaleidofin

Chennai-based neobank startup for the informal sector customer, Kaleidofin, on Thursday announced it has raised Rs 36 crore in Series A round led by Oikocredit, an impact investor with four decades of experience in financial inclusion. 

Existing investors Flourish, a Silicon Valley-based venture firm backing financial health solutions globally, and Omidyar Network India, an investment firm focused on social impact, doubled down on their investments in the previous round.

Sucharita Mukherjee, Kaleidofin CEO and Co-founder, said,

“At Kaleidofin, we have reimagined the way financial services are designed and accessed by the lower income groups. Our deep ‘tech with touch’ model ensures our financial services are accessible through a trusted channel at an extremely low-cost. We are encouraged by the early wins we have had thus far. Funds raised in this round will help us strengthen our technology backend and respond to growth opportunities.”  

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Investors who participated in the previous round include Blume Ventures, angel investor Prof. Shlomo Ben-Haim, and Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, which doubled its stake during this raise. Unitus Capital acted as an exclusive financial advisor to transaction. 

Founded in 2017 by Sucharita Mukherjee and Puneet Gupta, Kaleidofin provides curated, goal-based financial solutions to customers in the underbanked segments using proven financial planning and wealth management principles. For each customer, Kaleidofin said to begin with understanding the financial goals of the household, its main sources of financial vulnerability, preferences, and tolerance toward financial risk. It creates individual “personas” of households through multiple sources of information, such as the demographic profile, income sources, asset ownership, among others, to tailor specific financial solutions for its customers.

Kaleidofin is Oikocredit’s first equity investment in the fintech sector in India.

Anirudh Sarda, Equity Officer, Oikocredit, said,

“With Kaleidofin as our first equity investment in the Indian fintech sector, we want to promote and be part of the responsible offering of savings and insurance products to the low-income segments of the population. We are confident of the social impact that technology can make in improving access to formal financial services and Kaleidofin team’s understanding of the customer’s requirements.”

In less than two years of operations, Kaleidofin has over 50,000 customers spread across 10 states in India. It has nearly 30 network partners which include MFIs, corporates, and NGOs. 

Last year, Kaleidofin received $2.8 million as part of its Seed round led by Silicon Valley-based Omidyar Network.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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