Zeta turns unicorn in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund II

Modern banking tech company Zeta has raised $250 million in its Series C round from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. 

According to the Mumbai-based company, it has been valued at $1.4 billion and entered the coveted club of unicorns. Zeta has become the 14th startup to cross the valuation of $1 billion in 2021. Last week, B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix announced that it became a unicorn after raising $120 million in Series E.

Zeta was in talks with SoftBank for the past couple of months.

Started as a digital employee expense management and coupon company, Zeta has pivoted to become a full-stack neo-banking platform for businesses. The six-year-old company enables banks and financial institutions to launch modern retail and corporate fintech products. 

According to the company’s website, it counts RBL Bank, IDFC First Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank as its clients along with 14,000 corporates. Zeta’s solutions are being used by BFSI issuers in India, Asia, and Latin America. 

While there is no direct competition for Zeta, Yap, Decentro and Setu are other companies in the same segment. Yap had recently scored a $10 million worth Series A round co-led by Flourish Ventures and Omidyar. 

Decentro has been backed by Y Combinator whereas Falcon Edge and Lightspeed had infused $15 million in Setu last year.

Zeta also competes with the likes of FamPay, Junio, Walrus and Yodda by providing a feature through which users can instantaneously generate a digital card for their family members including teenagers. FamPay is also set to raise $25 million led by Elevation Capital.

Led by series entrepreneurs Bhavin Thurakia and Ramki Gadipatti, Zeta will be the second company after Meesho to raise funds from SoftBank and turn unicorn in 2021. The list includes CRED, ShareChat, Gupshup and Groww among others. 

UPI-focused payments and lending company BharatPe, fantasy sports platform MPL and MX Player are all set to become a unicorn in their next funding round that is likely to close soon.

Entrackr had exclusively reported the development on April 20 and May 11 and May 3, respectively. 

Meanwhile, digital insurance provider Acko and foodtech company Rebel Foods are reportedly in talks to raise a bigger round with a valuation of over $1 billion. 

Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Zeta on the transaction.

Update: The current round is Series C, not Series D. According to the company, it incorrectly called the previous round Series C.