Fintech startup Jar has secured funding of $22.6 million, which has made it worth $300-million.
Jar, a fintech business that offers gold-backed micro-savings, has secured $22.6 million in a Series B investment round at a value of more than $300 million, making it one of the few fintech companies to achieve a multi-million dollar round during a funding slowdown. In its previous investment round in February, the business was valued at $200 million.
Tiger Global led the new round, with returning investors including Arkam Ventures, Eximius Ventures, Force Ventures, LetsVenture, Rocketship Venture Capital, and WEH Ventures.
1Finance, Capier Investments, Cloud Capital, Folius Ventures, Panthera Capital, Prophetic Ventures, Yes VC, Adam Nash, and Zachary Hargreaves are among the new investors in the Series B round. The current round of investment will be used to expand the startup’s employees and continue to construct a complete, one-stop savings financial platform. Jar previously secured $32 million in a Series A fundraising round headed by New York-based investment company Tiger Global in February 2022 at a $200-million value.
Due to a huge ‘funding winter’ for late-stage rounds and a fall in investor confidence, startup financing in the Indian ecosystem plummeted in the second quarter of CY2022.
Despite the slowdown in late-stage agreements, early-stage deals from seed to Series A rounds have increased in volume, however the number of deals has decreased year on year in both Q1 and Q2 of 2022. Jar, which was founded a year ago in May 2021 by Misbah Ashraf and Nishchay AG, claims to have onboarded over 9 million members to date. In a statement, the firm stated that it is now trying to extend its portfolio of savings and investing options. According to a Jar spokesperson, the app will eventually expand into other financial services such as credit and insurance.
“Everyone has faith in gold. Even the most sophisticated investor mitigates risk by putting a portion of his capital in it. Our long-term objective is to enable all of our customers to diversify across several asset classes while also providing seamless access to a variety of financial services like credit and insurance through Jar,” the spokesperson added.
In June 2021, Jar will offer its first gold-backed savings product. The platform presently handles 220,000 transactions each day on average. The business also stated that it is seeing constant rise in customer savings, with a 20% increase in average savings amount month over month.
“The average middle-class Indian saves roughly $1,000 per year, and we expect to capture more than half of it through Jar,” the representative stated.
According to studies, most Indians start working in their early twenties but do not contemplate long-term financial planning until approximately a decade later, owing to the complexity of traditional investing alternatives.
CEO and co-founder of Jar, Nishchay AG, stated, “We have been blessed to experience early and agile adoption since our customers fully identify with every component of our platform based on current behaviour patterns. We’re witnessing a 20% average increase in customers’ savings month after month, and we’re thrilled to see them grow into devoted and confident investors. We will continue to extend our service offerings to meet their needs and assist them in achieving their financial independence.”
Alex Cook, partner at Tiger Global, of the funding, added, “By starting with digital gold, a well-understood and well-loved asset class in India, Jar’s savings app has swiftly garnered confidence and traction with young earners interested in creating a saving and investing plan.”
