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Pune-based fintech startup EarlySalary has raised close to $97 Mn (INR 775.4 Cr) in a funding round led by TPG Growth. Norwest Capital and Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited also participated in the round.

Earlier this month, the startup passed a special resolution to allot 300 equity shares and Series D non-cumulative compulsory and fully convertible preference shares (CCPS) at an issue price of INR 60,992.84 per share each to TPG Growth, Norwest Capital, and Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited, regulatory filings showed.

While TPG Growth invested $56 Mn (INR 448.5 Cr) through its The Rise Fund III SF Pte, Norwest Capital pumped in $34.5 Mn (INR 276 Cr). Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited invested $6.3 Mn (INR 50.9 Cr) in the startup. 

As per Inc42’s calculations, EarlySalary was valued at $266 Mn in the latest funding round.

Post the fund raise, TPG Growth will hold 23.3% stake in the fintech startup, while Norwest Capital will own 14.4% stake. Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited will own 8.4% stake in the startup. With this investment, the total stake of institutional investors in EarlySalary grew to 51.85%. 

The development comes almost two years after EarlySalary raised $10 Mn, in what seemed to be its Series C round, from Eight Road Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, GenNext Ventures, among others. 

In 2018, the startup had raised $15.7 Mn in its Series B round from Eight Roads Ventures, IDG Venture India. 

Founded in 2015 by Ashish Goyal and Akshay Mehrotra, EarlySalary is Pune-based lending app that focuses on young working professionals. 

The startup claims to offer instant loans of up to INR 5 Lakh. It claims to have over 10 Mn downloads and that the platform has already disbursed INR 5,000 Cr of loans to 2.4 Mn customers. 

Users have to be in the 21-55 age bracket, have a minimum salary of INR 18,000 (metro cities) and INR 15,000 (non-metro cities), and Indian residents to be eligible to get a loan from the startup.

EarlySalary claims to be operational in 27 cities in the country including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Gurugram, Mumbai, among others.

EarlySalary competes with the likes of PaySense, ZestMoney, Slice, Daily Salary, and Refyne. 

As per Inc42’s ‘The State Of Indian Startup Ecosystem Report, 2022’, the lendingtech segment dominates the fintech space. India’s lendingtech space is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 32% and reach market size of $816 Bn by 2025.