Yubi founder Gaurav Kumar invests Rs 250 Cr in the company

Fintech unicorn Yubi (formerly CredAvenue) founder and CEO Gaurav Kumar has invested Rs 250 crore ($30 million) in equity capital in his startup. This makes one of the largest capital infusions by a founder in a technology company in recent times.

The board of Yubi approved this equity round in August 2024.

Kumar and Vineet Sukumar launched non-banking financial company (NBFC) Vivitri in 2017. Three years later, the duo co-founded the lending firm Yubi.

Yubi's technology infrastructure, risk evaluation, and collections platforms facilitate every stage of the flow of money from lenders to borrowers and back to lenders. The company claims to have facilitated over Rs 1,40,000 crore in debt volumes and has served more than 17,000 enterprises and 6,200 investors and lenders.

Yubi turned unicorn in March 2022 after a $135 million Series B round led by Insight Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, and B Capital Group. Last year, its valuation touched $1.5 billion after secondary sale.

Last month, Yubi had added fresh employee stock options worth $26 million for its employees. The company’s total ESOP plan stood at $70 million.

In 2024, the trend of investment from founders in their own startup is picking up. Recently, Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal pumped in $100 million alone in the company through his Singapore-based entity Patient Capital. EV firm Ather Energy’s co-founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain invested $10 million in the company. In the past, mobility firm BluSmart and edtech firm Byju’s also raised hefty money from their founders.