Fintech Startup Fampay raises $38 million in Series A Funding led by Elevation Capital & Others
FamPay, a fintech startup that provides payments and financial services to teenagers, has raised $38 million in a Series A funding round led by Elevation Capital and including existing investor Sequoia Capital India.
Other early investors included Venture Highway, Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, as well as new investors General Catalyst, Rocketship VC, and Greenoaks Capital.
According to Venture Intelligence data, the FamPay funding is one of the largest Series A rounds in India's startup ecosystem, with only Ola Electric ($58 million in 2019) and Mensa Brands ($50 million in May 2021) receiving larger cheques in their respective Series A rounds.
According to sources, the deal values FamPay at $150-$170 million.
The fintech firm was on the verge of closing a smaller $25 million round in March, but interest from several investors prompted a size and valuation increase, according to sources.
FamPay, founded in 2019 by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Roorkee graduates Kush Taneja and Sambhav Jain, provides digital wallet, commerce, and financial services to children through specialised parental controls and transaction limits.
According to the company, there are two million registered users.
“With around 40% of the Indian population being below 18, every year millions of new teenagers will start using their first smartphone and FamPay envisions becoming their go-to brand,” Jain said. The funds will be used to increase hiring across operations, he added.
According to Jain, the company is using a combination of influencer marketing via social media and brand outreach via its mini commerce store to onboard customers and increase engagements.
In a collaboration with IDFC First Bank, the company also launched one of the first ‘number-less' prepaid cards for customers earlier this year.
“FamPay is creating a market segment that a lot of brands don't focus on today. With the rapid growth, we saw our users loving the product simply because we gave them something they did not have before,” Taneja said.
The company announced in March 2020 that it had received $4.7 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, Venture Highway, Sequoia Capital India, and Global Founders Capital, as well as angel investors such as Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Robinhood co-founder Vladimir Tenev, Cred founder Kunal Shah, and Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau.
“India today has a sizable population of 250 million adolescents and we believe that catering to this unserved audience with innovative products contextualised to their needs and behaviours will create a very valuable business,” said Mridul Arora, partner, Elevation Capital.
According to Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore, the venture capital firm sees fintech as a long-term investment in India.
“Sequoia India first interacted with the FamPay team during their seed round and decided to invest right away. The team is excited to double down in this round and is looking forward to working with them to help build FamPay over the next many years,” Singh added.
Other early investors included Venture Highway, Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, as well as new investors General Catalyst, Rocketship VC, and Greenoaks Capital.
According to Venture Intelligence data, the FamPay funding is one of the largest Series A rounds in India's startup ecosystem, with only Ola Electric ($58 million in 2019) and Mensa Brands ($50 million in May 2021) receiving larger cheques in their respective Series A rounds.
According to sources, the deal values FamPay at $150-$170 million.
The fintech firm was on the verge of closing a smaller $25 million round in March, but interest from several investors prompted a size and valuation increase, according to sources.
FamPay, founded in 2019 by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Roorkee graduates Kush Taneja and Sambhav Jain, provides digital wallet, commerce, and financial services to children through specialised parental controls and transaction limits.
According to the company, there are two million registered users.
“With around 40% of the Indian population being below 18, every year millions of new teenagers will start using their first smartphone and FamPay envisions becoming their go-to brand,” Jain said. The funds will be used to increase hiring across operations, he added.
According to Jain, the company is using a combination of influencer marketing via social media and brand outreach via its mini commerce store to onboard customers and increase engagements.
In a collaboration with IDFC First Bank, the company also launched one of the first ‘number-less' prepaid cards for customers earlier this year.
“FamPay is creating a market segment that a lot of brands don't focus on today. With the rapid growth, we saw our users loving the product simply because we gave them something they did not have before,” Taneja said.
The company announced in March 2020 that it had received $4.7 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, Venture Highway, Sequoia Capital India, and Global Founders Capital, as well as angel investors such as Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Robinhood co-founder Vladimir Tenev, Cred founder Kunal Shah, and Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau.
“India today has a sizable population of 250 million adolescents and we believe that catering to this unserved audience with innovative products contextualised to their needs and behaviours will create a very valuable business,” said Mridul Arora, partner, Elevation Capital.
According to Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore, the venture capital firm sees fintech as a long-term investment in India.
“Sequoia India first interacted with the FamPay team during their seed round and decided to invest right away. The team is excited to double down in this round and is looking forward to working with them to help build FamPay over the next many years,” Singh added.
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