Rupeek raises $34 Mn led by Lightbox

Online platform for gold-backed loans Rupeek has raised $34 million in a round led by Lightbox. Existing investors including GGV and Bertelsmann also participated in the fresh round.

Media reports suggested that the company has reached the post money valuation of $634 million. As per Fintrackr’s estimates, it was valued at around $515 million during a $33 million tranche in March last year.

The six year old company claims that it has over five lakh customers in over 30 cities across India, with 55% of its customers being first-time borrowers. The Bengaluru-based digital lending platform said it also doubled its gold loan disbursals in December 2021 as compared to 2020.

Rupeek competes with legacy NBFCs and banks and also fintechs like Indiagold. It has also forayed into instant, MSME, business and Mudra loans.

For the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2021 or FY21, Rupeek’s revenue from operations multiplied 3.1X to Rs 63 crore from Rs 20.6 crore in FY20. As per Fintrackr’s calculations, Rupeek spent Rs 3.9 to earn a single rupee of revenue during FY21 as compared to Rs 25.24 spent to earn the same during FY20.