Exclusive: Rupeek set to raise $50 Mn at a flat valuation

Online gold loan platform Rupeek appears close to mopping up fresh capital from existing backers. The Bengaluru-based company is in late-stage talks to raise more capital in an extended Series E round, said two people aware of the details of the discussion.

“Existing investors Lightbox, Accel, Sequoia, Bertelsmann, Vostok Emerging Finance, GGV, HighSage Ventures, Kae Capital, 9Unicorns are likely to put in $50 million,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity as the talks are private. “Some new investors may participate as well.”

The new round is largely funded by internal investors at a flat valuation, meaning it’s the same as when they raised their previous round. “Rupeek’s pre-money valuation will remain the same [at around $640 million],” said another source who also requested anonymity. According to the person, these investors have given a term sheet to Rupeek and if nothing goes wrong from here, the deal will be closed soon.

The extended round for Rupeek is crucial as the company didn’t manage to raise a large round in its last fundraising, said sources. The company raised $34 million led by Lightbox in January this year at a valuation of $634 million.

Queries sent to Rupeek, Lightbox, Accel and Sequoia didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will update the story as and when they respond.

To cut costs and extend its runway, Rupeek laid off 200 employees in June. Entrackr had exclusively reported the development on June 7.

The Binny Bansal-backed firm has raised close to $140 million to date. Rupeek provides loans against gold as collateral with interest rates ranging from 5.88% to 21.48%. The six-year-old company claims that it has over five lakh customers in over 30 cities across India. It directly competes with PayU-backed Indiagold and Binny Bansal-backed Oro. The company forayed into instant, MSME and Mudra loans.

Rupeek is yet to disclose its financial numbers for FY22 but its operating revenue surged 3.1X to Rs 63 crore in FY21. As per Fintrackr’s analysis, the company also bettered unit economics as it 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.