WeRize, a full stack financial services platform, has raised $15.5 million from new investors — British International Investment (BII), the United Kingdom’s development finance and impact investor, formerly known as CDC group — and Sony Innovation Fund. Existing investors such as 3one4 capital, Kalaari Capital, Picus Capital and Orios Venture Partners participated, too.The company, which focusses on addressing the needs of smaller towns in India, will use these funds to build new financial products for its customers, expand and improve the technology platform as well as onboard freelancers in over 1,000 new towns that it is set to enter, it said in a statement.
WeRize claims to be operationally profitable with an annualised revenue run-rate (ARR) of $10 million as of May 2022. Further, it expects to achieve earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) profitability at group level over the next few months, the statement added. Founded in 2019 by Vishal Chopra and Himanshu Gupta, WeRize has raised a total sum of $25.75 million, including the latest round.
“Our unique full-stack approach where we manufacture as well as socially distribute financial services for underserved customers has helped us achieve rapid scale while maintaining solid unit economics. We have reached $10 mn+ revenue run-rate while doubling our revenues every six months and are just a few months away from being EBITDA positive at group level. These funds will further help in doubling down in our mission to profitably provide financial services to the underserved customers in 4000+ small cities of India,” said Vishal Chopra & Himanshu Gupta, Co-founders of WeRize said.
WeRize manufactures innovative credit, savings and group insurance products designed for this customer base keeping in mind their needs, requirements and purchasing power, with a view to add a layer of financial security to their lives and enable access to credit.