True Balance raises $23 mn to grow digital lending, ecommerce business

Balance tracking and digital payment services company True Balance has raised $23 million in a Series C round of funding from a group of seven Korean investors. 

The SoftBank-backed company, which is based in Seoul and Gurugram, has also been awarded a non-banking finance company (NBFC) licence by the Reserve Bank of India for its digital lending arm True Credits. The company also has a pre-paid instrument licence for running its digital wallet.

True Balance will use the funds to grow its lending services business and acquire talent. With the current infusion, the company has raised a total of $65 million capital across four rounds of funding.

The new infusion has seen NH Investment and Securities, IBK Capital, D3 Jubilee Partners, SB Partners and Shinhan Capital coming in as new investors. Existing investors IMM Investment and HB Investment also participated in the round.

“We aim to strengthen our data and ACS (Alternative Credit Scoring) strategy to provide better financial services to our target — the next billion Indian users. Our goal is to reach 100 million digital touchpoints and become one of the top fin-tech companies in India by 2022,” said Charlie Lee, founder of True Balance in a statement shared by the company.

Set up in 2014, True Balance initially helped people check their mobile balance or top-up plans. The company now claims to clock three lakh digital transactions a day. It also wants to launch value-added services, including bus travel ticketing, digi gold, cylinder booking and payments by end of the fiscal year 2020.

The company, which focuses on users in Tier 2 and 3 cities, has recently launched recharge loan, insurance and e-commerce services on its platform.

“In June 2019, we visited India and observed the rapid growth of emerging fintech market of the country. We are confident of True Balance’s ability to lead and execute technology to better the lives of unbanked users,” said Na Kwang Kug, director at IMM Investment in a statement.

Similar deals:

• In September, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal acquired a majority stake in microfinance company Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services.
• Mumbai based fintech company Kissht backed by Fosun Capital is in talks to raise a $60 million round according to reports. 
• Microlending company RedCarpet Tech raised $3.89 million from Lightspeed Investors in March.