Financial services portal BankBazaar raises $13M in Series B led by Sequoia Capital

Chennai-based A & A Dukaan Financial Services Pvt Ltd, which operates a loan information and processing portal under the brand BankBazaar.com, has raised more than $13 million (Rs 80 crore) in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from existing investor Walden International. The capital will be used to create brand awareness among its customers and to launch new products, Bankbazaar's CEO Adhil Shetty told Techcircle.in.

"We are developing a system using which our customers can get loan approval in seven minutes. We are also launching new products whereby customers can compare the fixed deposits and savings bank services offered by various banks in the country," Adhil said. The company claims that it will close the current financial year (FY2013-14) with loan dispersals worth Rs 3,000 crore.

The development was first reported by The Times of India.

BankBazaar had earlier raised $6 million from Walden in March 2011.

The latest investment was completed a few weeks ago, one source said without sharing more details or confirming the deal value.

BankBazaar was set up in 2008 by siblings Adhil and Arjun Shetty, along with Rati Rajkumar. Adhil has a master's degree in International Relations from Columbia University in New York. Prior to setting up BankBazaar, Adhil managed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu's US East alliances with a leading information management company. He had earlier worked at Cisco.

An MTech in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Arjun (COO) worked at Amazon.com in Seattle and managed the Amazon.com Visa Card program. Rati Rajkumar (chief product officer) holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from MOP Vaishnav College. Prior to co-founding BankBazaar, she worked at Kraft Foods in the US and Taiwan.

BankBazaar is an online marketplace that provides instant customised rate quotes on loans and insurance products. One can instantly search for, compare and apply for loans, credit cards and insurance products on the site. The firm has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, besides Chennai.

There are a few other such online ventures such as Apnapaisa and Apnaloans.in, to name a few, specifically targeting borrowers. There are a number of firms in the financial services domain catering to information related to insurance policies, mutual funds and the like.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)