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Good Morning,

Digital gold or gold loans weren’t the segments former Paytm executives Nitin Misra and Deepak Abbot wanted to explore. The duo, who created several financial products and were building the digital loan segment for Paytm, didn’t think it would be a viable business. 

But in 2020, they founded indiagold, a startup operating in the digital gold lock and locker segment. 

The founders’ early reluctance wasn’t based on market size. In fact, just based on market size, gold loans would be a great segment to start up as, according to the World Gold Council, Indians are sitting on gold worth $1.5 trillion. 

In 2020, the gold-based lending platform raised an initial seed round of Rs 14 crore from Leo Capital, Blume Founders Fund, Sequoia Scout, and seven angels. 

Last week, it confirmed a $12 million fundraise from PayU and Alpha Wave Incubation Fund, along with participation from Better Tomorrow Ventures, 3one4 Capital, and Rainmatter Capital.

indiagold offers users the option to store gold in lockers at much cheaper rates than banks, and also proffers a credit line for the deposited gold. As of June this year, indiagold claims to have sold gold worth Rs 4 crore. 

Customers can store gold and earn close to six percent interest annually on the value of the deposit, and the startup already has over 800,000 customers across Delhi-NCR. 

The Interview

In this episode of #HumanBeyondResources, Dunzo Co-founder and CEO Kabeer Biswas discusses how work-from-home is not simple, and yet, why the Bengaluru startup is likely to continue with it even post-pandemic, Dunzo being used as a verb, fostering diversity and inclusion, and much more!

Editor’s Pick: Techie Tuesday

American psychologist Abraham Maslow once said, “In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.” For healthtech company Augnito’s Chief Product Officer, Spriha Biswas, it was the former that dictated every step of her career as a techie. 

Born and brought up in Tatanagar (Jamshedpur), Spriha had never had a dull moment in her school years, as she constantly strived to keep learning. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

An ecommerce platform for startups

Rohit Mohan Pugalia followed in the footsteps of his family members who were all traders. When a life of entrepreneurship came calling for him as he settled into a finance-related position at Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, he decided to take the plunge.

In 2014, he moved to Mumbai, along with his wife, Purvi Pugalia. The duo set up an umbrella company called Soch Group, aiming to launch several startups under it. Over a month ago, they launched their second venture, This or That. Read more.

News & Updates

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“It almost looks like we’re trying to build like an OYO of Lockers. Our goal is to get customers comfortable, to provide them more security for their precious assets. But more important is to get customers comfortable enough to deposit their gold in our safe custody.” 

— Nitin Misra, Co-founder, indiagold

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