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Bengaluru-based Fintech Start-up Refyne Raises $82 Million from Tiger Global

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The Bengaluru-based fintech incubator Refyne has raised $82 million in a Series B investment led by Tiger Global, which allows salaried workers to encash their earned income to date. Existing investors QED, Jigsaw VC, DST Global's Partners, RTP Global, and XYZ Capital joined the round as well as new investor Digital Horizon.

Refyne's valuation has climbed 6.5 times since its $16 million financing in June 2021, according to cofounder Chitresh Sharma. Sharma and Apoorv Kumar launched the company in 2020, and in December 2020, they secured $4.1 million in early capital.

The cash will be used by the earned wage access (EWA) company for product development, staff expansion, ramping up different business operations, and raising awareness of the EWA idea.

Employees can borrow a portion of their earned wage before payday via EWA, an alternative lending service. If a person earning INR 50,000 per month has a financial constraint in the middle of the month, he or she can access/withdraw a portion of the INR 25,000 on the 15th, with the remaining paid on the 30th.

EWA reduces the need for high-interest credit systems by not requiring employees to 'borrow.'

Employees may access their earned income in real time thanks to Refyne’s plug-and-play software. Organizations may use the financial wellness solution for free, and it connects smoothly with any current ERP (Enterprise Resource Management) service or HRMS (Human Resource Management System).

The early payday company charges a one-time transaction cost of INR 10 and distributes the earned paycheck in 60 seconds, with no hidden fees. The startup does not charge interest because this is not a loan.

For the quarter ending in December 2021, the EWA startup claims to have grown revenue by 480 percent over the previous quarter.

Refyne's notion isn't restricted to low-wage workers who rely on loans to fund extracurricular activities.

Sharma said, “while they are the power users, we were surprised when Refyne also had a use case for higher paid profiles because of the convenience, especially providing liquidity. We observed that higher-paid employees do not have liquidity, since they are making their money work harder, and Refyne was a use case, albeit with lesser frequency.”

The B2B2C model has worked with more than 150 companies, including TeamLease, Rebel Foods, Acko, Cars24, and CCD, to serve over 700,000 employees. It has partnered with NBFCs for capital while itself filing for an NBFC licence, and wants to hire 3 million people by 2022.

He added, “Refyne has observed around 68% adoption rate on average among employees of partner companies in the first quarter alone post onboarding. Not only that, but an E&Y report also noted employers who implemented EWA observed a significant drop in attrition, faster talent acquisition, enhanced workforce productivity, and improved eNPS.”

EWA is a novel concept, particularly in India, and it has sparked investor interest. QED Investors has invested in five EWA companies: Minu in Mexico, Rain in the United States, Xerpay in Brazil, Wagestream in the United Kingdom, and Refyne in India. Only in Southeast Asia has there been a lot of investment in salary-on-demand companies. GajiGesa, Gajiku, and Wagely are all based in Indonesia, as are Gimo and Nano Technologies, which are both based in Vietnam.

SalaryBox, which was featured in "30 Startups To Watch — October Edition," hinted at the notion of bringing financial inclusion to all blue- and grey-collar workers by providing them with access to essential payroll data and allowing them to receive paychecks ahead of schedule.