Paytm founder, others back fintech platform Refrens

Bengaluru-based Refrens Internet, which runs an eponymous fintech platform, has raised an undisclosed amount in an angel funding round.

Investors in the round include Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma; Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal; AngeList’s venture fund The Collective; early-stage fund First Cheque; along with senior executives from companies such as EzCred, Freshworks, Voonik, DailyNinja, Kaleyra, Zebpay, SpringRole and Park+, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

The fresh capital will be used to expand the reach of the platform and add “freelancer-friendly” financial services, it said.

“We’re looking to build a marketplace for freelancers, where they can showcase their portfolio of services and get more business. While doing this, we’ll also be looking to help freelancers in ways of training them, helping them get loans, insurance. Overall, (it’s) a business management platform for freelancers,” co-founder Naman Sarawagi told TechCircle. 

Launched in July 2019, the platform offers services such as free invoicing, payments and expense management system to freelancers and business-to-business (B2B) service providers.

The firm expects to reach a user base of at least a million freelancers over the next two years, while exploring overseas expansion as well, Sarawagi said. Currently, the company services about 12,000 businesses and freelancers, with an estimated growth of 10% per week.

“Freelancers and B2B service providers is a large and growing segment. There are about 15 million white collar professionals in this industry in India alone. There is a huge opportunity in building for this community of users,” Kushal Bhagia, CEO of investor FirstCheque, said.

Sarawagi, with fellow co-founder Mohit Jain, had earlier set up FindYogi, a price comparison platform for Indian ecommerce websites. In 2016, FindYogi was acquired by short news app Way2News.