Gurugram and Bengaluru-based fintech startup Chqbook has raised Rs 40 crore in a pre-Series B round of funding led by existing investor Aavishkaar Capital and the Rajiv Dadlani Group.
The round also saw participation from Earlsfield Capital UK and reputed Family Offices and HNI investors including Jeremy Lim, Bhupesh Kumar, Nilesh Srivastava, and others.
The company said in a press release that it will use the funds for ramping up user acquisition and strengthening technology.
Vipul Sharma, Founder & CEO, Chqbook, said, “Through 2020, we built our multi-product stack and launched products which are now witnessing huge demand from the small business community. This has given us the confidence to double down and provide our customers access to banking, credit, and insurance. Across the country, over the next ten years, we expect small businesses to grow exponentially.”
In addition, the adoption of 5G services will expand the scope of services customers can access. At Chqbook, we are committed to solving for this community and aim to lend over Rs 30,000 crore, open 1 million accounts, and insure 10 million customers, over the next few years. Early days yet, but the accounts, credit, and insurance gap are so wide that the opportunity will require multiple players to join this movement.”
Chqbook had recently raised Rs 7.5 crore of venture debt from Innoven Capital, to ramp up lending and is on track to meet significant customer demand for lending.
Founded in 2017 by Vipul, Rajat Kumar, Sachin Arora, and Mohit Goel, Chqbook.com is a neobank for small business owners that offers various financial services to small businesses, including banking, khata, lending, insurance, and rewards.
Rajiv Dadlani, from the Family Office of the Rajiv Dadlani Group, said, Given the founders' vision and strong execution, also neobanking being at a nascent stage in India, with huge growth potential, we are glad to partake as long-term investors, and support them in their amazing journey forward.”
The excited to partner with and support the team at Chqbook through their growth, as they build a mobile-first financial ecosystem focussed on small business owners, with the potential to impact millions of MSMEs that form the backbone of India’s growing economy, said Aakash Agrawal, Earlsfield Capital.
