[Funding alert] Gurugram-based neo-banking platform Nupay raises seed funding from Venture Catalysts

Startup accelerator Venture Catalysts on Thursday said it has recently invested an undisclosed amount in ‘Neo-banking’ business payments platform Nupay as a part of its seed funding. 

The funding round also saw the participation of several angel investors, including Navin Puri, ex-Country Head Branch Banking, HDFC Bank, and Vishwadeep Bajaj, CEO and Founder, ValueFirst.

Nupay said in a statement that it plans to deploy the funds from the current round towards geographical expansion and product optimisation.

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Founded by financial services industry veteran Alok Arora and IIMC alumnus Neeraj Singh, Nupay claims to be a ‘Neo Banking’ business payments platform enabling banking transactions, contextual payments, receivables, and payables automation for large enterprises, governments, and SMEs.

The company leverages bank partnerships (Open APIs), client ERP integration, and AI and ML capabilities to automate account receivables and payables which help organisations to reduce the cycle time, improve cash flows and provide seamless bank reconciliation.

Sharing his insights, Dr Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, President & Co-founder, Venture Catalysts, said, 

“As India’s FinTech sector continues to flourish, it is neo-banking that presents the next big opportunity. The global neo-banking market expected to grow up to $394 billion by 2026. India, too, has started to experience the neo-banking revolution. In fact, 50 percent of the neo-banking startups were founded in 2016-17 and have seen large investments from major VCs and Banks.”

Nupay said it has partnered with banks including IndusInd and Yes Bank, enabling them to access state-of-the-art technology and bring high levels of transparency into their operations.

Speaking on the investment, Alok Arora, Co-founder and CEO, Nupay, commented, 

“We are delighted to have Venture Catalyst as our investor. This is a validation of our belief in building India’s first Neo-banking platform in India focussed on high-value and high-transacting enterprises. We have seen a surge in demand from large and mid-sized clients and banks that are looking at a comprehensive and innovative platform to manage their complex needs and dynamic requirements.”

In addition to this, Nupay’s platform has been processing Rs 400 crore of transactions on a monthly basis.

Navin Puri of HDFC Bank added, 

“Nupay platform is extremely relevant to the current banking ecosystem and helps banks to further their digital and open banking initiative. The management team has extensive experience in this area and have been able to build a strong product with many large clients using the platform. I believe that the early success of the company combined with the growth in the industry provides a huge potential for Nupay which they are well-positioned to leverage.”

At present, Nupay’s clientele includes the likes of Yatra, StarAgri, and Aditya Birla Capital.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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