Fintech Startup Uni Raises $18.5 Million from Accel India & Lightspeed India Partners

In a seed funding led by Lightspeed India Partners and Accel Partners, the fintech start-up Uni has raised $18.5 million.

Nitin Gupta, Founder and CEO, Uni comments, “Over the last five years, we have witnessed a 3x acceleration of digital and electronic payment platforms, however, the share of credit card payments has fallen drastically. There is an opportunity to expand the market from 58 million credit cards in India today to 200 million credit cards over the next five years by building new products, catering to underserved customer needs, and getting new customer segments.”

Uni is striving to bridge the gap in the credit card market by simplifying its access to consumers across different regions. It was co-founded by PayU India’s Co-founder and CEO Nitin Gupta and former CEO of Ola financial services, Uni is in stealth mode.

“Credit cards are a very large and exciting market. It has over $100 billion in annual spends and still, less than 2.5 percent of the Indian population has a credit card today. The opportunity in front of us is truly immense," says Prayank Swaroop, Partner, Accel India.

Presently, the country’s credit card market is still under-penetrated as compared to digital payments. The company claims that the country now has over 100 million Indians who use digital and electronic mode for payments, while, 34 million credit card users have 58 million credit cards. As a measure to bridge this gap, Uni is intending to target the e-commerce and internet-savvy generation across the country who are preferring to lead an aspirational lifestyle.

Under Nitin's leadership, PayU India has been valued at $500 million until 2016. Post that, he moved to establish Ola Financial Services and was focused on building the company's different financial services business. Thus, Ola Financial Services has been valued at $250 million within two years of Nitin taking charge.