Ex-Google Pay Execs Manage to Raise $13.2M For a Neo-Banking Platform
Sujith Narayanan and Sumit Gwalani, the two co-founders of leading payment settlement app Google Pay in India have announced that their startup epiFi has secured a massive amount of $13.2 million through the Seed financial round. The two prominent executives of the Google Pay India team are gearing up to launch a neo-banking solution in the country by pooling in the funds and support from leading VC funding platforms.
According to the reports released on Monday, the funding round was led by Sequoia India and Ribbit Capital. The event also saw the participation of Brazilian neo-banking giant Nubank’s founder David Velez, creator of payments startup CRED Kunal Shah, and VC fund Hillhouse Capital. The round valued the eight-month-old startup firm, epiFi for a whopping $50 million worth.
The neo-banking solution has been designed to cater to the requirements of the tech-savvy generation in the best possible way, said Narayanan. The project will help the investors to understand their spending routines and will act as a guide to help them earn lucrative profits by making intelligent investments. He quoted that “When we were building Google Tez, we realized that a consumer’s financial journey extends beyond digital payments. They want insurance, lending, investment opportunities, and multiple products.” Narayanan said that their revolutionary app will be launched in a few months.
Sumit Gwalani, who works as the co-founder and the chief product and technology officer in epiFi has served as director of product management at Google India.
“Their vision to reimagine consumer banking, by providing a modern banking product with epiFi, has the potential to bring a step function change in experience for digitally-savvy consumers,” said Shailesh Lakhani, managing director of Sequoia Capital India.
The past few years have seen major participation from startups and Silicon Valley firms in the Indian territory focused on the strengthening of digital financial services providing solutions and projects. Last year saw a stunning 1 billion worth digital transactions being carried upon by more than 100 million users in India. Startups like NiYo and RazorPay serve as neo-banks and offer features like corporate credit cards, automatic recurring payouts, etc. Factually, a majority of neo-banks or alternative banks operating in South Asia cater to the requirements of startups and business platforms rather than individuals.
