Apis in talks to again fintech Cash View at $1 billion valuation regardless of market hunch • TechCrunch

India’s Cash View is in talks to boost a brand new spherical of funding at a unicorn valuation, two sources conversant in the matter informed TechCrunch, in a lift to the native fintech neighborhood that has been rattled by the central financial institution’s stringent tips and funding crunch in latest months.

Apis Companions is deliberating main a funding spherical of about $125 million to $150 million within the Bengaluru-headquartered startup at a valuation of about $1 billion, the sources stated. The spherical, a Collection E, hasn’t been finalized, so phrases of the deal should still change, the sources cautioned, requesting anonymity talking about nonpublic info.

Apis Companions, Cash View and the startup’s founders didn’t reply to a request for remark Wednesday night native time.

The eight-year-old startup, which was valued at $615 million in a Collection D funding spherical in March this yr, presents lending to people who can’t avail credit score from banks and different monetary establishments. The startup has stated up to now that almost all of its clients reside in small Indian cities and cities.

“India is among the most underserved massive economies relating to entry to credit score. Greater than 70% of the credit score offered by banks is just given to the highest 10% of prosperous Indians,” it describes on its web site.

“Probably the most underserved segments are individuals who earn lower than 5L [$6,070] a yr. Cash View goals to bridge this credit score hole by offering personalised mortgage presents for its clients by its strong knowledge and danger evaluation mannequin. The corporate’s proprietary knowledge fashions present a 360-degree danger evaluation, enabling credit score for the underserved segments.”

Cash View — which counts Ribbit Capital, Tiger International and Accel amongst its present backers — has been worthwhile for over a yr, its founder Puneet Agarwal stated in a press assertion in Might, and was on a path of clocking a income run price of about $80 million.

“Within the age of money burning companies, we’re one of many only a few fintech startups to be worthwhile for greater than a yr now,” Agarwal stated in a press launch in Might.

Its new funding deliberations come at a time when the dealflow exercise has slowed down dramatically within the South Asian market as traders develop cautious of writing new checks and consider their underwriting fashions after valuations of publicly listed companies take a tumble.

Indian startups raised $3 billion within the quarter that led to September, down 57% from the earlier quarter and 80% year-over-year, in line with market intelligence platform Tracxn.