Returning investors Amazon, GUS Holdings back BankBazaar

A&A Dukaan Financial Services, which owns loan aggregation platform BankBazaar, has raised Rs 8.2 crore (a little over $1 million at current exchange rates) from returning investors in the latest tranche of its ongoing growth funding round.

While Dutch company GUS Holdings invested Rs 2.29 crore ($0.31 million), ecommerce firm Amazon put in Rs 2.84 crore ($0.38 million) through its foreign portfolio investment arm Amazon.com NV Investment Holding, as per filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Additionally, BankBazaar co-founder Arjun Shetty infused Rs 40 lakh ($53,483), while its other co-founder Adhil Shetty has proposed a Rs 2.66 crore ($0.36 million) contribution to the round, the regulatory filings showed.

Last month, the Chennai-based company announced raising Rs 45 crore ($6 million as per exchange rates at the time) in a Series D funding round from new investor WSV, a joint venture fund between Walden International and Korean company SKTA, along with returning investors Amazon, Sequoia India, Experian and Eight Roads Ventures. Of that, about Rs 29 crore ($3.8 million as per exchange rates at the time) was raised in April and $2.2 million in March.

In 2017, the company raised $29.5 million in a growth funding round from Dublin headquartered credit information provider Experian. 

Founded by Adhil Shetty, Arjun Shetty and Rati Shetty, BankBazaar is an online marketplace that provides instant customised rate quotes on loans and insurance products. As of February this year, the company said over 50 financial institutions have been integrated with the platform.

Online loan aggregators and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) continue to garner investor interest despite the Covid-19 crisis.

Earlier this month, Gurugram-based Aye Finance raised $16.75 million in a debt funding round from Frankfurt headquartered impact investor Invest in Visions. In June, it raised $28 million in a Series E funding round from LGT Lightstone, Falcon Edge, A91 Partners, asset management firm MAJ Invest and CapitalG. A month before that, it received $24 million in debt from undisclosed lenders in India and abroad.

Last month, Bengaluru-based payments platform Slice raised $6 million in a bridge funding round, dubbed a pre-Series B round, led by Tokyo-based investor Gunosy Capital last month. 

In the same month, agri-focussed lending platform Jai Kisan secured $3.9 million in a bridge funding round led by early stage venture capital firm Arkam Ventures.