Sequoia Surge backed fintech Klub raises $2mn

Bengaluru and Singapore-based fintech startup Klub Works has raised $2 million in a seed round from Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s scale-up programme, and a group of angel investors.

The institutional investors in this round include EMVC Fintech Fund, Better Capital, Tracxn Labs, and 9Unicorns, a company statement said.

Nearly 40 angels also participated in the round through AngelList, including Naveen Tewari and Piyush Shah of InMobi, Kunal Shah of Cred, Rajesh Yabaji of Blackbuck, Ramakant Sharma of Livspace, Amit Gupta of Yulu, Shailendra Singh of MarketsandMarkets, Nipun Mehra formerly of Pine Labs, Nitin Sharma of InCrypt, founders of EzCred, Nishant Verman of Flipkart, and Shradha Sharma of Yourstory among others, the statement added.

The startup was recently named part of the second cohort of Surge, Sequoia’s seed investment programme.

Klub was founded by Anurakt Jain and Ishita Verma in August 2019. Jain, who graduated from IIT Delhi and Wharton, was an intrapreneur at InMobi.

Verma, who has a background in economics from Lady Shri Ram and an MBA from IIM Bangalore, was previously with Snyder UAE and has worked as an investment banker with Unitus Capital, and in institutional equities at Kotak.

Klub provides loans to brands like direct-to-consumer ones in fashion, lifestyle, and FMCG, and consumer internet brands. While building its platform for the India market initially, the company is also aiming for a pan-Asia presence.

The startup is in stealth mode currently and is doing limited pilots with select brands, including some international ones entering India, it said in the statement.

Another fintech startup that has raised money while being in stealth mode is epiFi, which closed a round of $13.2 million in a seed round from Sequoia, Ribbit Capital.

Last month, online mutual fund investment services provider Wealthbucket raised $3 million in a seed round from private equity firm NorthStar and some HNIs (high net worth individuals).

During the same time, digital taxation services provider Quicko raised $300,000 in a seed round from Rainmatter Capital, an incubator that invests in fin-tech startups.