[Funding alert] API infrastructure startup YAP raises $4.5M in Series A led by BEENEXT

Chennai-based API platform YAP has raised $4.5 million in its Series A round of funding led by Singapore-based venture capital firm BEENEXT.  

 Dirk Van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner at BEENEXT, said,

“I have been actively looking for a “fintech anywhere” platform company in India for the past 12 months and I was very pleased when I met Madhu, Muthu and Prabhu and heard about their very unique founding journey. We agreed very quickly to partner.”

BEENEXT has already made early-stage investments in several Indian fintech startups including BharatPe, OpenBank, Shubh Loans, and SafeGold.

The startup said the funds will be used to strengthen the team, build technology, and offer enhanced API products to fintech with specific focus on enabling access to credit, corporate banking solutions, cross border payments, and the freshly minted Neo banking stack. 

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Vikram Chachra’s 8i Ventures Fund, The DMI Group via its AIF vehicle The Sparkle Fund, Better Capital, angel investors Alok Mittal, Ashneer Grover, CEO Bharatpe and YAP’s angels investors Amrish Rau - CEO Pine Labs, Jitendra Gupta – Founder Jupiter and Abhishant Pant of Fintech Meetup also participated in the round.

Vikram Chachra, Founding Partner at 8i Ventures, said,

“I discovered Yap when our fintech portfolio companies began using their payment infrastructure APIs to launch their card offerings. We backed Madhu and his team in their seed round and are delighted to invest in them again now.”

YAP currently provides API-based financial services access to over 200+ fintechs, and the company had raised over $1 million in angel financing earlier this year.  

Prabhu Rangarajan, Co-founder, YAP, shared,

“Our platform is connected to 15 banks in India and by leveraging technology we are accelerating the paradigm shift in sacheting of financial services by new cohorts of distribution, leading to lowering costs, enhancing access, and better value proposition to end consumers.” 

The five-year-old company claims that it closed last financial year with a 400 percent revenue growth and processed over $2 billion in annual payments with millions of users through 200+ discerning fintech engagements.

“Yap has played a crucial role in the evolution of the fintech ecosystem in India. As a provider of digital payments infrastructure, it is very well-placed to benefit from the continuing adoption of digital finance channels by Indian households and companies,” added Shivashish Chatterjee, Co-founder, DMI Group.

Recently, Bengaluru-based API infrastructure company Setu also secured $3.5 million (approximately Rs 24.5 crore) as a part of seed round capital led by Lightspeed India Partners, with participation from Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund.