Funding alert- An interesting startup, Refyne announced a funding of USD 82 million

Funding alert- An interesting startup, Refyne announced a funding of USD 82 million

The news of funding of different and various startups is coming daily. It is good and relieving to see that the economy is in action before the third wave of pandemics hits us completely. We wish that the economy should continue to move on and we are able to recover as soon as possible from the after-effects of the COVID 19 lockdown. 

Let us talk about funding. We have been discussing funding a lot in our articles. Almost daily you see an article telling about a startup that has received funding. One of the interesting points which need to be noted here is that each startup told here is an innovative and a different one.

The startups which receive funding are mainly because of an out of box business line. These startups come up with an innovative solution to the problem that has long been in the market. With the right amount of technology and business planning, they disrupt the existing market and bring a change in the economy. 

We all know that the COVID lockdown had a disastrous impact on the economy of our country. Because of the lockdown and non-functioning of the economy, we have been shifted back so many years that it will now take us many more coming years to recover from the loss. 

Let us now talk about the funding of an innovative and interesting startup that has taken place recently. 

Announcement of funding of a startup 

The startup, Refyne, has raised funds worth USD 82 million, as announced on January 12, 2022. This round of funding which happened was the Series B round of funding and was led by Tiger Global. Many existing investors of the startup were also the participants of this round of funding. The existing investors were QED Investors, Jigsaw VC, XYZ Capital, RTP Global, and the partners of DST Global. With this round of funding, the new investor has also joined the board of the startup. The new investor is Digital Horizon. 

The startup plans to utilise the funds raised to scale and expand into different geographies. It will also use some funds in the development of more products, even creating and spreading awareness about the product. The startup also plans to hire more people and expand its team, which currently is at 85. After  this round of funding, the total funds raised by the startup have increased to USD 106 million.

This round of funding has taken place seven months post the previous round of funding, which was the Series A round of funding. That round of funding took place in the month of July in the year 2021 and the startup had raised USD 16 million in that round of funding. 

The value of the startup post the current round of funding has not been disclosed but according to the founders of the startup, the valuation of the startup has increased 6.5 times from the previous Series A round of funding. 

About the startup that has announced funding 

The startup, Refyne, was founded in the year 2020 by Chitresh Sharma and Apoorv Kumar and has its headquarters in Bengaluru. The startup has the Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C) model and is engaged in establishing the link between reward and work. The startup helps the clients by coming into partnership with them and then building the financial resilience of their staff and thus nurturing a productive and happy workforce. 

The startup has developed a mobile-first Earned Wage Access (EWA) platform that provides assistance to the companies to give their employees an option to acquire their real-time income any time before their monthly salary is due. The mission of the startup is to simplify money and help improve the personal finance of the people of our country by putting an end to the exploitative credit schemes, empowering employees with access to their earned wages, and building trust in the financial system for the underserved. 

The most prized asset of the startup is its culture, the set of values that are inspired by the resilience, and the conduct and skillset of each team member. 

The startup comes into partnership with companies having more than 1000 employees to use their plug-and-play solution, which integrates with any existing payroll or HRMs. It fronts the risk with the earned salary withdrawal by employees, without impacting the status of the working capital of the employer. 

The investors of the startup are some of the largest VCs of the world, which are Tiger Global, QED Investors, Jigsaw VC, XYZ Capital, and many more. 

About Tiger Global 

Tiger Global Management LLC was founded in the year 2001 as Tiger Technology Management LLC by Chase Coleman III. Tiger Global is an investment firm based in the United States of America and has its headquarters in New York City, New York, US. The products offered by this private investment are Hedge Fund, Private Fund, and Venture Capital. It has around 100 employees and the Assets Under Management are worth USD 95 billion, as of October 2021. 

The focus of this investment firm is on the public and the private companies which are working in the industries of the Internet, software, consumer, and financial technology, around the world. The mission of Tiger Global Management LLC is to create and generate world-class returns on investment over a long period of time. It aspires and wishes to do the same in a way that makes the partners and the portfolio companies of Tiger Global proud, as it is engaged in building an investment platform that will be unique and around the world. 

Talking about the public equity business of the firm, it was launched in the year 2001 and it uses and applies a fundamentally oriented, long-term investment approach. It looks to invest in the companies of high-quality that take benefit from powerful secular growth trends and are led and mentores by excellent management teams. Coming to the private equity side of the business of the investment firm, it was launched in the year 2003. It has made investments in hundreds of companies in more than 30 countries including investments ranging from Series A to pre-IPO. The private side of the business aims to have partnerships with dynamic entrepreneurs who are operating market-leading growth companies in the core focus areas of the investment firm. 

The startup has something really very different and innovative to offer on its plate. We wish the startup a very bright and successful future ahead.

Edited and proofread by Ashlyn