Exclusive: Binny Bansal’s 021 Capital leads Series A round in Oro

Chennai-based gold loan platform Oro Money has raised Rs 36 crore in a Series A round led by 021 Capital. This is the maiden funding round for the company which competes with Rupeek and Indiagold.

Oro Money has allotted 1,077 equity and 3,716 Series A CCPS at an issue price of Rs 96,000 to raise Rs 36 crore, regulatory filings with RoC show.

021 Capital Scheme led the round with Rs 22 crore whereas Premji Invest has put in Rs 12 crore. Yash Amit Nanavati and Rathna Girish Mathrubootham have invested Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively. 

Prerna and Mridual Sahuwala also participated in this round.

Oro Money provides gold loans at an annual interest rate of 9.48%. Currently, it’s operational in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad and according to its website, it will go live in Pune and Coimbatore soon.

According to Fintrackr’s estimates, the company has been valued at around Rs 212 crore or close to $30 million after the allotment of the Series A round.

Following the investment, 021 Capital has picked up a 10.37% stake in Oro while Premji Invest owns 5.66%. The company’s co-founders Parth Shah, Sreekesh Krishnan and Rakesh Mani own 15.15% each. Caratlan’s chief executive Mithun Sancheti and Siddhar Sancheti of Jaipur Gems holds 13.67% each. Please refer to the pie chart for the complete captable.

This is the second bet by Binny Bansal in the gold loan space. His venture capital firm Tanglin Ventures had invested in segment leader Rupeek. Rupeek had scooped up $34 million round led by Lightbox. Apart from Rupeek, Oro Money also competes with Indiagold that had raised $12 million Seies A round led by PayU and Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI).

Oro had remained a pre-revenue stage company during the fiscal year ending March 2021. According to its annual financial statements, the company had posted a loss of Rs 85 lakh in FY21.