Apis in talks to back fintech Money View at $1bn valuation despite market downturn

India’s Money View is in talks to raise another round of funding at a unicorn valuation, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, in a boost to the local fintech community that has been rattled by tight central bank guidelines and a funding crisis in the last time. months.

Apis Partners is considering leading a funding round of around $125 million to $150 million in the Bengaluru-headquartered startup at a valuation of around $1 billion, the sources said. The round, a Series E, has not closed, so the terms of the deal could still change, the sources warned, requesting anonymity for non-public information.

Apis Partners, Money View and the startup’s founders did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening local time.

The eight-year-old startup, which was valued at $615 million in a Series D funding round in March this year, offers loans to individuals who cannot access credit from banks and other financial institutions. The startup has previously said that the majority of its customers live in small Indian cities and towns.

“India is one of the most underserved major economies in terms of access to credit. More than 70% of the credit given by banks is given only to the top 10% Indians,” the website said.

“The most underserved segments are people who earn less than 5L [$6,070] a year. Money View aims to bridge this credit gap by offering personalized loan offers to its customers through its robust data and risk assessment model. The company’s proprietary data models provide a 360-degree risk assessment, enabling credit for the underserved segments.”

Money View — which counts Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and Accel among its existing backers — has been profitable for over a year, founder Puneet Agarwal said in a press release in May, and was seeing an annual revenue run rate. of around 80 million dollars.

“In an age of cash-burning businesses, we are one of the very few fintech startups that have been profitable for more than a year now,” Agarwal said in a May press release.

The new funding considerations come at a time when dealflow activity has slowed dramatically in the South Asian market as investors become wary of writing new checks and evaluate their underwriting models after valuations of listed firms fall.

Indian startups raised $3 billion in the quarter ended September, down 57% from the previous quarter and 80% year-on-year, according to market intelligence platform Tracxn.