India-based neobanking startup Zolve announced Tuesday it has raised $40 million in Series A funding, led by partners of DST Global.
The round was also participated in by Tiger Global, Alkeon Capital, as well as its existing investors Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
The funding round has raised the 10-month old company’s valuation to $210 million.
The funding amount will be used to rapidly scale the company’s financial services platform, Zolve said in a statement.
Zolve provides immigrants bound to the U.S. with access to FDIC-insured bank accounts, high-limit credit cards, and debit cards on the basis of their home country credit score – without the need for an SSN (social security number) or U.S. credit history–while they are still in their home countries. Zolve is on course to become a full-stack financial services provider with products focused on instant remittance, insurance, and loans in the pipeline.
Since launching in September 2021, more than 70,000 customers from Australia, Canada, Germany, India, and the United Kingdom, have signed up for Zolve. The new round of funding comes just 7 months after announcing a large seed round of $15 million which saw the participation of Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and a host of other marquee investors.
In October 2021, it raised another $40 Million in one of India’s largest Series A funding rounds.
With these additional funds, Zolve intends to enhance the user experience for global citizens, allowing them to open their U.S. accounts in minutes. Moreover, the funds will help speed expansion of the service to more nationalities, increasing the number of people who can start building their financial futures from the moment they arrive in the U.S. Further, Zolve is looking to grow its partner network and recruit stellar talent in the U.S. and India to launch more products and open access to more countries.
“While we intended to start with a small cohort of 500 users, we were oversubscribed by almost 90 times from working professionals and students within the first few weeks. This incredible traction has been far beyond what we had envisioned and clearly demonstrates that there is a tangible need for a service that provides global citizens equitable access to financial products,” said Raghunandan G, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Zolve.
“We look forward to expanding the scale and reach of our products, helping even more immigrants globally to achieve their dreams,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anand Daniel from Accel said that Zolve is among the few startups that achieved product-market fit right out of the gate.
“Given that the U.S. is a country with immigrants in its DNA, it’s surprising how long it has taken someone to solve the issues that new immigrants experience with the traditional banking system. We’re proud to be among the first to recognize the tremendous value that Zolve is creating by bringing its full-stack financial solutions to the global market for immigrants,” he said.
Lightspeed Partner Bejul Somaia also said access to tailored and fair financial products has a direct and meaningful impact on people’s lives.
“We’re incredibly excited to have invested in Zolve, and to support Raghu’s vision of bringing world-class financial services products and experiences to immigrants in the US and other markets. The company’s rapid acceleration, especially around customer acquisition and usage, is a reflection of the team’s execution capability and significant unmet needs of Zolve’s target customer base. We’re excited for what the future holds and have high confidence in Zolve’s future success,” he said.