[Funding alert] Financial service platform WeRize raises $8M in Series A led by 3one4 Capital, Kalaari Capital, and others

Bengaluru-based socially distributed full-stack financial services platform, WeRize, on Wednesday announced that it has raised $8 million in Series A round, led by 3one4 Capital, Picus Capital, Kalaari Capital, and Orios Ventures, according to a press statement.

Founded by ex LendingKart executives Vishal Chopra and Himanshu Gupta in 2019, WeRize is building India’s first socially distributed full stack financial services platform for families in small town India. 

WeRize is a socially distributed full stack provider, both- developing and distributing a wide portfolio of customised credit, group insurance and savings products for 100 million families and 300 million individuals who live in 4000+ small towns of India.

Vishal Chopra & Himanshu Gupta, Co-founders, WeRize said,

“We are creating a new category in the Indian financial services space; a socially distributed full stack financial services platform for 4000+ small towns of India. The full stack approach of owning both the product and the distribution gives us unique insights about our customer segment that becomes an unbeatable competitive advantage.

With the support of our investors, we have the opportunity to reimagine financial services for a large and profitable customer base that has been inadequately served by the existing ecosystem. And we will do this while generating livelihood for thousands of partners through our pioneering distribution model”.

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WeRize is already operationally profitable and is on target to become EBITDA positive by early 2022, claims the startup.

According to the statement, it has registered 10x revenue growth in the last year. The company currently caters to customers in 1000+ cities and towns and plans to reach 4000+ towns in the next two years through its social distribution “Social Shopify of Finance” tech platform that will have over 50,000 freelance financial consultants across India.

Commenting on the investment, Anurag Ramdasan, Partner at 3one4 Capital added,

“Financial services for 4000+ small towns in India is a space that has been largely untouched due to the complex nature of the space. Vishal and Himanshu have been working on this space for two years to build a lean, efficient approach to solving the problem for 300 million Indians.

We strongly believe that their approach of designing financial products focused on families along with distributing through social model is the only way to win this huge market. So we are very excited to support them as they scale WeRize out and build more innovative products for small town India.”

“Vishal and Himanshu bring to the table all the necessary know-how and experience to build India’s first socially distributed full stack financial services brand for families in small town India . Small town India needs a very different set of products than is currently made available by incumbent players and a distribution model that solves the unique challenges that exist in these markets. The full stack play by WeRize hits all the right notes and we look forward to supporting the team in the exciting next phase of growth," stated Rajesh Raju, Managing Partner at Kalaari Capital.