[Funding alert] Fintech startup Karbon Card raises capital from Y Combinator

Fintech startup KarbonCard has raised an undisclosed amount in growth capital from accelerator Y Combinator, the startup said in a press release on Monday.

It plans to use the funds to step up its product development, hiring plans, and operations, the Bengaluru-headquartered company added.

So far, the startup has raised $3.5 million from investors, including Orio Venture Partner and US-based 2AM VC. It is in the process of raising more funding over the next few months.

Founded in 2019 by Pei-fu Hsieh, Amit Jangir, Kartik Jain, and Sunil Sinha, Karbon is focused on small businesses and startups. It enables startups to access credit of up to Rs 5 crore with no fixed deposits or personal guarantee, offers rewards such as AWS credits, expense management via WhatsApp, and seamless payments transactions through corporate cards, among others.

Karbon said in the press release that it feels a YC tag "would help the company create more value in the Indian startup ecosystem, and help mitigate the biggest challenge of convincing startups about the existence of a product like Karbon."

The startup claims it has crossed Rs 500 crore annualised volume run rate on cards and has CRED, Unacademy, MyGate, Pharmeasy, Nazara (IPO-ed recently), BlackBuck, and Bizongo among its 1500 customers.

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It has grown its revenue 35 percent month-on-month, despite the pandemic that dented corporate spending. The startup recently integrated with Visa's network after the RBI banned Mastercard from issuing any new credit cards.

"The rapidly growing Indian startup ecosystem needs solutions like Karbon Card. Moreover, there are more than 40 million small and medium businesses in India. Karbon is well-positioned to serve this huge untapped market," said Hershel Mehta, Co-founder at 2 AM VC, one of Karbon Card's investors.

The startup's competitors include global players such as Brex, which was also incubated by YC, Ramp, and Divvy.