Series D Funding Of $110 Million Raised By EarlySalary

EarlySalary, has closed its series D funding round of $110 million led by TPG’s The Rise Fund and Norwest Venture Partners. Existing investor Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited also participated in the round. This is EarlySalary’s largest fundraise to date, following the company’s last financing round in 2019. The company had raised $34 million in previous rounds from Eight Roads, Chiratae Ventures, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited, and angel investors. The latest investment will enable EarlySalary to grow its business significantly in the next 24 months. The series D round of $110 million includes a secondary sale. Unitus Capital acted as the exclusive advisor for the transaction.  

Founded in Pune in 2015, EarlySalary has emerged as India’s largest consumer lending fintech which provides accessible financial lending solutions of up to Rs. 5 lakhs to working professionals. The company expanded into the affordability segment and introduced Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services to its customer segment with a clear focus on education, health, and consumer product financing. Over the course of its journey, EarlySalary expanded its services to over 150 cities and aims to continue growing its customer base.

EarlySalary’s core purpose is to provide a financial ecosystem for young and aspirational individuals. 80 per cent of Indians use banking services, however, almost 50 per cent of the Indian population doesn’t have access to credit due to various reasons. The focus of EarlySalary is to provide a safe and reliable credit platform to the underserved population, primarily in Tier 3 and 4 cities, at affordable rates.

EarlySalary’s comprehensive suite of products includes personal loans payable in EMIs over multiple tenures. The company will continue to expand its BNPL segment and build out an extensive network of partners across the healthcare and edtech segments. 

Commenting on this funding, Mr. Akshay Mehrotra, Co-Founder, and CEO said, “We are humbled by the overwhelming response and support of the world-class investors, who are backing our vision to revolutionize our fintech business. Our aim is to utilize these funds in expanding our cash business and build a strong array of capabilities to efficiently serve a larger segment of customers. We at EarlySalary, aim to create India’s largest digital lending ecosystem, addressing the challenges through technology-first solutions, thereby enabling millions of Indians to avail of timely and quality services through enhanced affordability. Through this, we want to achieve 10X large growth in our customer base.”

To create a superior customer and product experience, the company will continue to focus on enhancing its tech and analytics frameworks while delivering a high degree of transparency, risk management, and customer centricity to achieve its growth plan. In the last six months, EarlySalary has added key executives across risk, sales, treasury, and other functions to strengthen its management team.

The company has rapidly expanded its presence from 18 cities to over 150 cities and increased its customer base to 12 million app downloads with approximately 1 million customers. It has grown 7x over the last two years and emerged as a market leader in providing financial assistance to young middle-income individuals across the country. The business continues to be profitable over the pandemic and expects to grow manifold in the future.