Exclusive: Setu raises 109 Cr in Series A round led by Lightspeed

Doubling down its bet on financial infrastructure startup Setu, Lightspeed Venture Partners has led Rs 109.21 crore ($14.56 million) Series A round in a year-old venture. The round appears to be an ongoing one and it could rake in more capital in coming weeks.

Falcon Edge India and Bharat Inclusive Technologies Seed Fund (BITSE) are two new investors in this round. The Series A  funding comes for the Bengaluru-based venture after a year of the seed round. 

Setu had raised a $3.5 million maiden investment from Lightspeed.

According to regulatory filings, Lightspeed has poured around Rs 62 crore while Falcon Edge invested Rs 42.5 crore. BITSE, which counts Omidyar Network and Bill and Melinda Gates foundation as backers, has invested Rs 4.66 crore.

Setu primarily partners with financial institutions to help design and distribute financial products. Its flagship product enables merchants of every size to collect payments, savings, and credit to their users from any application. 

The company works with banks, NBFCs, asset management companies and its website claims to collect bill payments over 400 apps and three million offline touchpoints using BBPS and UPI. It powers payments for 75 million vehicles across India. Setu also has a product for collections via Whatsapp and UPI in the pipeline.

The firm also runs open-source initiative D91 Labs to provide research, insights, frameworks and help fintech companies in shaping their products.

According to Entrackr’s calculation, Setu has been valued at an estimated $50 million~ Rs 376 crore post this investment. Lightspeed’s shareholding has gone up to 25.31% while Falcon Edge and Bharat Inclusive Seed Fund control 9.62% and 2.94% equity respectively.

The promoters Sahil Kini and Nikhil Kumar have diluted their combined stake from 78.13% to 55.42% in the fresh financing round. Both founders are members of India stack, a think tank behind Aadhaar applications and Digital India initiatives.