Neobanking company Stashfin raises $100 Mn in debt

NeoBanking platform Stashfin has raised $100 million in debt from InnoVen Capital, Trifecta Capital, and a clutch of other domestic investors.

The capital, also one of the largest debt rounds in the past couple of years, comes nearly one year after the $270 million Series C round, which was led by Uncorrelated Ventures, Fasanara Capital and Abstract Ventures.

To date, Stashfin has raised nearly $430 million in equity and debt, and was valued at $730 million in the last funding round.

Stashfin will use the fresh funds to optimise its portfolio for potential securitisation, better customer experience and further improve financial inclusion, the company said in a statement.

Founded in 2016, Stashfin is a fintech platform that provides financial products & services for millions of borrowers across India. The startup claims that it offers its services to over 10 million customers, who have limited credit footprints.

According to the company, it has witnessed a spate of positive developments, such as ICRA upgrading the startups’ rating to BBB (Stable) / A3+ for its group company Akara Capital Advisors Private Limited (ACAPL).  It had recently issued its first debt issue to retail investors on a credit platform called Wint Wealth.

Stashfin’s Indian entity recorded a 5.7X surge in operating revenue to Rs 47.5 crore in FY22 as compared to Rs 8.3 crore in FY21. As per the standalone financial statement, its losses rose 39% to Rs 18.64 crore in FY22 from Rs 13.4 crore in FY21.

Neo banking platforms in India have struggled to make money despite raising million dollars during the 2020-2022 period. Entrackr analysed annual financial statements of Open, Fi and Jupiter and found that revenues of even Rs 50 crore from operations are pretty distant for these three firms.

For instance, Open’s revenue from operations jumped over 7X to Rs 40.9 crore during FY22 while Fi (formerly epiFi) and Jupiter recorded Rs 21 crore and Rs 42 lakh operating revenue respectively.