Indiagold, a startup that offers gold loans, and digital gold, among other things, has raised nearly $10 million in an extended Series A round from existing investors, Alpha Wave, 3one4 Capital, PayU, and Leo Capital.
The board at Indiagold has passed a special resolution to allot 5,323 Series A1 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) at an issue price of Rs 1,45,600 per share to raise Rs 77.5 crore or nearly $10 million, as per the regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Alpha Wave spearheaded the round with Rs 38.76 crore followed by 3one4 Capital which infused Rs 19.38 crore. Payu Fintech Investments and Leo Capital also joined in and invested Rs 11.62 crore and Rs 7.75 crore, respectively.
Importantly, the new tranche has come at a 2X premium over its last valuations, the sources said. Indiagold valuation will touch $100 million in this round, added the second source, who also did not want to be named.
Inquiries sent to Indiagold, PayU & Alpha Wave were not immediately answered. We will carry your comment in the story in case you respond.
A 2x jump in Indiagold valuation in an extended round is a positive development in the current funding environment that has seen a sharp decline in recent months. According to Fintrackr data, total funding in Indian startup was $12.7 billion during the first quarter of 2022, which fell to $7.86 billion in the second quarter.
The figure fell further below $1 billion in July and barely reached $1 billion in August. Overall, startups have sucked in $22bn during the first eight months of 2021 compared to $38bn last year.
Founded by two former Paytm executives, Deepak Abbot and Nitin Mishra, Indiagold partners with banks and non-bank finance companies NBFC to offer gold loans and is currently present in 12 cities.
The new tranche at the Gurugram-based company has come after a year. As of September 2021, Indiagold had raised a $12 million round led by PayU and Prosus owned Alpha Wave. In February of the same year, it raised Rs 14 crore in its seed round led by Leo Capital and a group of angel investors including Kunal Shah, Amrish Rau, Kunal Bahl and Ashneer Grover.
Indiagold mainly competes with Accel-backed Rupeek, which is struggling to close a new round. To cut costs amid tough financial conditions, Rupeek has also laid off more than 200 employees in two batches in recent months.
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