[Funding alert] Micro-savings startup Siply raises $19M in pre-Series A round

Bengaluru-based micro-savings app for underserved Indians, Siply, has announced raising $19 million in a Pre-Series A round of funding led by QI Ventures. The round also saw participation from returning investors LetsVenture and JITO, as well as angel investors including Vivek Sunder, CEO of Cuemath. 

The company will utilise the capital to achieve triple-digit Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and to turn operationally cash-flow positive by the coming year by offering its solutions for specific savings instruments. It will also target acquisitions in the space, the company said in a statement.

Prior to this, Siply raised $4.2 million including $1 million in a seed round in January 2021 and $3.2 million in a Pre-Series A round in October 2021, with participation from Founder Room Circle, Kunal Shah of CRED, Pratekk Agarwaal (former Bharatpe CBO), Beerud Sheth of Gupshup, and others.

“Siply is positioned to be a leader in the new category of digital banking for the next 400 million Indians having a similar obsession with revenues, from solutions that are aligned with consumer needs, through meaningful growth from acquiring high-quality users, resulting in high ARPU and faster break even,” said Sousthav Chakrabarty, CEO and Co-Founder of Siply in the statement. 

Founded in July, 2020 by Sousthav Chakrabarty and Anil Bhat, Siply offers individuals savings products on its app including smallcase investing for as low as Rs 100 per unit, savings in gold, digital chit fund and free-to-open National Pension Scheme.

Siply also works with corporates to offer micro-loans to their employees. The platform offers its services across 11 local languages to target underserved users. 

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The startup claims to have disbursed Rs 149 crore across 1.5 lakh loans with zero NPA over the last 12 months.

Since its last fundraise in October, the number of user accounts with Siply has grown to over 6 million. It also claims to have a revenue run rate of $1 million, which is projected to grow to $12 million by March 2023. 

“Siply is a disruptive idea in micro-savings. They are possibly the only business on a mission to convert a significant portion of 40 crore Indian population to a net saving customer from net borrowing customer when most other fintechs are focusing on lending,” said Ayan Chatterjee, CEO and Co-Founder at QI Ventures in the statement.

Siply competes with other savings apps including the likes of Jar and Kaleidofin apps.

(This story was updated with additional details.)