Gold-centric lending startup Indiagold is set to raise $10 million in an extended Series A round from existing backers, said three sources aware of the details of the deal. The new money will take its total fundraise to $22 million.
“Alphawave is spearheading the new tranche while other existing investors including 3one4 Capital, PayU and Leo Capital will also join,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity as talks are yet to be public.
Importantly, the new tranche has come at a 2X premium on its last valuation, said sources. “Indiagold’s valuation will touch $100 million in this round.,” added the second source who also wished not to be named.
Queries sent to Indiagold, PayU and Alpha Wave didn’t elicit any immediate response. We will carry their comments in the story in case they respond.
A 2X jump in Indiagold’s valuation in an extended round is a positive development in the current funding environment which has taken a sharp downturn in the past few months. total funding in Indian startups stood at $12.7 billion during Q1 2022 which fell to $7.86 billion in Q2. The number further plummeted below $1 billion in July and just touched $1 billion in August. Overall, startups have mopped up $22 billion during the first eight months of 2021 as compared to the $38 billion last year.
Founded by two former Paytm executives Deepak Abbot and Nitin Mishra, Indiagold partners with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to offer gold loans and is currently present in 12 cities.
The new tranche in the Gurugram-based company has come after a year. In September 2021, Indiagold had raised a $12 million round led by Prosus-owned PayU and Alpha Wave. In February same year, it raised Rs 14 crore in its seed round led by Leo Capital and a clutch of angel investors including Kunal Shah, Amrish Rau, Kunal Bahl and Ashneer Grover.
Indiagold majorly competes with Accel-backed Rupeek which is finding it tough to close a new round. To cut costs amid tough funding conditions, Rupeek also laid off over 200 employees in two batches in the past few months.
