Fintech start-up YAP raises $10 million in Series B funding
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YAP, a Chennai-headquartered fintech start-up, on Tuesday announced that it has raised Series B funding of $10 million (₹ 73.2 crore), co-led by Flourish Ventures and Omidyar Network India.
This is the second fundraising for YAP in less than a year, which saw the participation of its existing investors BEENEXT, 8i Ventures and DMI Group. The Sparkle Fund and Better Capital also participated in the financing round.
The fintech start-up raised $4.5 million in its Series A round in April 2020.
Founded in 2015 with the goal of enabling payments for businesses, the platform has evolved into a “Bank-in-a-Box” fintech infrastructure provider. YAP enables businesses and platforms to offer their own branded financial services through partnerships with financial institutions or fintech companies while ensuring regulatory compliance.
“The tailwinds from the pandemic presented a shot in the arm for our business with across-the-board adoption of our API capabilities,” YAP Co-founder Madhusudanan R said in a press release, adding, “At one end, we have over 20 banks accelerating their efforts to partner; at the other end we have over 300 brands and fintechs looking to embed financial products.”
The investment will allow the start-up to strengthen its technology teams, build new capabilities as well as reach new markets across Asia, he added.
Currently, YAP’s infrastructure serves companies in India, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. YAP intends to expand to Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Vietnam and Indonesia.
“YAP is our first investment in embedded finance infrastructure in India, aligning with our principles of Fair Finance to foster a more inclusive economy,” Anuradha Ramachandran, Investments Director, Flourish Ventures, was quoted as saying in the statement.
“The YAP platform provides the rails on which fintechs and incumbents can build new cases for the underserved segment, while delivering financial services in a cost-effective way,” she added.
YAP offers end-to-end programme management services over a bundle of APIs that covers bank accounts, term deposits and a wide gamut of payments products including debt, credit, prepaid, travelcard, QR, UPI, NETC toll payments.
“At Omidyar Network India, we believe that Digital Enablers such as YAP can catalyze financial inclusion and drive usage of financial products across the Next Half Billion – the 500 million Indians expected to come online for the first time via their mobile phones,” Amol Warange, Director, Omidyar Network India was quoted as saying in the release.
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