slice is raising around $55 Mn-$60 Mn from its existing investors including Tiger Global and Insight Partners
The startup’s fresh round will value slice in between $1.8 Bn to $2 Bn
Four months back slice entered the unicorn club after raising $220 Mn in Series B round
Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn slice is in talks to close a bridge round, which will take the startup’s valuation to around $1.8 Bn-$2 Bn. slice is raising around $55 Mn-$60 Mn mostly from its existing investors including Tiger Global and Insight Partners, as per people aware of the development.
A startup ideally raises a bridge round ahead of a bigger round. According to people familiar with the development, this round has been raised ahead of slice’s Series C funding round. The source further added that the startup is currently in talks with investors for raising $150 Mn in its Series C round.
“The company is having talks with investors to raise a new round now,” said a person within the company.
Questions sent to slice, and Blume Ventures, one of the early investors in the startup didn’t elicit any response.
The fresh development comes almost after four months when slice achieved the unicorn status with raising $220 Mn. The round was led by New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global along with Insight Partners.
The round also saw investment from investors including Advent International’s Sunley House Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Anfa, Gunopsy among others. Its existing investors Blume Ventures and 8i also participated in that round.
Founded in 2016 by Rajan Bajaj, slice (earlier Slicepay) is a fintech startup offering credit solutions targeting young consumers between the age of 18 and 29. Since its inception, the fintech startup has raised about $270 Mn in funding and during its last round its valuation was pegged at around $1 Bn.
The fintech startup issues credit cards and payments cards to this segment in partnership with Visa and SBM Bank, allowing this cohort to build a good credit score, while also offering rewards and discounts from payments. The fintech startup provides a credit line starting from INR 10,000 going up to INR 10 Lakh.
Apart from offering a credit line, the startup is also in the process of launching its UPI product. Reportedly, slice is currently testing UPI payments method within their employees. Once the Bengaluru-based startup launches its UPI payments product officially, it will compete against fintech giants such as Walmart-backed PhonePe, Google’s Gpay, Meta’s WhatsApp, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm.
The startup saw its losses climbing up to INR 8.9 Cr in FY21, a 5X jump from INR 1.8 Cr it incurred in FY20. Its revenue from operations also grew by 18.4% to INR 35.3 Cr in FY21 from INR 29.8 Cr in FY20.
slice’s expense shot to INR 47.8 Cr in FY21, a significant jump from INR 35.7 Cr it spent in FY20.
It competes against the likes of Uni Card, Karbon Card, Kodo, among others.
