Financial services portal BankBazaar raises $59M from Amazon, Fidelity and others

Chennai-based A & A Dukaan Financial Services Pvt Ltd, which sells third-party financial services products through the online platform BankBazaar.com, has raised Rs 375 crore ($59.1 million) in Series C funding from e-commerce giant Amazon and other investors.

Fidelity Growth Partners and Mousse Partners also put in money along with the company's current investors Sequoia Capital and Walden International, BankBazaar said on Thursday.

BankBazaar will use the money for technology integration and to hire more staffers. It will also strengthen partner relationships and upscale marketing and branding efforts, the company said in a press statement.

"With the rapidly evolving online consumer segment across categories, we have seen great demand for this platform. We are currently looking to expand the category as we reinvest all earnings in growing the business intelligently," said Adhil Shetty, CEO, BankBazaar.com.

The company was set up in 2008 by brothers Adhil and Arjun, along with Rati Rajkumar. BankBazaar provides instant customised rate quotes on loans and insurance products.

"The company has made great strides in the last two years and has become the premier consumer destination for financial products. With this fundraise, BankBazaar plans to innovate even more to provide the best and fastest experience for consumers", said Gautam Mago, MD, Sequoia Capital.

BankBazaar plans to launch more personal finance products. It has signed up with 23 banks to give clients more options through the online and mobile platform.

In January last year, the company had raised $13 million in Series B funding which was led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Walden.

Since the last round of funding, BankBazaar's business model has evolved. The company is focusing on made-for-mobile web service and mobile platforms in order to enable larger connect with the audience, it said.

BankBazaar claims that the number of transactions on its platform has grown by five times since the last funding. About 40 per cent of its users connect through smartphones. Its online loan applications have growing by 90 per cent compared with 15 per cent growth in sales through offline mode, BankBazaar said.

In March 2011, BankBazaar had raised $6 million from Walden.

This is the second known investment by Amazon in an Indian company. Last December, the global e-commerce giant had led an investment of $10 million in Bangalore-based gift card provider QwikCilver.

Fidelity Growth Partners India, which is part of American financial services conglomerate Fidelity, is an active growth stage investor with positions in over two dozen of companies, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle. Its recent investments include Medwell Ventures, Haygot Education and MineralTree.

Founded in 1994, Mousse Partners is a US-based family office which specialises in venture capital investments.