Fintech unicorn Slice has raised Rs 71.7 crore (about $8.53 million) from its founder and CEO, Rajan Bajaj. This was done through the issuance of partly paid-up shares. Regulatory filings from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show that Slice’s board approved up to 22,000 partly paid-up equity shares. Each share is priced at Rs 32,606 and will be issued in one or more stages.
This comes after Slice, based in Bengaluru, secured Rs 300 crore in debt funding. The round was led by the Taneja Family Trust, Anju Family Personal Trust, UK2 Family Trust, and MN Family Trust, along with participation from Blume Ventures, 8i Ventures, and others.
Slice provides prepaid accounts, UPI payments, and consumer credit, mainly targeting young users. The company is well-known for offering no-fee credit services and a rewards program. Additionally, Slice has entered the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) market, giving millennials and Gen Z more control over their spending.
In 2021, the company reached unicorn status by raising $220 million in a round led by US investors Tiger Global and Insight Partners. As of March 2023, Tracxn valued Slice at $1.3 billion.
In August, Slice’s merger with North East Small Finance Bank, based in Guwahati, received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had cleared the merger in October 2023. This will allow Slice to deliver tech-driven financial services to North East Small Finance Bank’s customers.
The funding aligns with a growing trend where founders and executives invest in their startups. For example, in August, Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo, invested Rs 830 crore in his company, while Gaurav Kumar, founder and CEO of fintech unicorn Yubi, put Rs 250 crore into Yubi.
In fiscal year 2023, the firm’s operating revenue jumped to Rs 846.7 crore, three times higher than the Rs 283 crore of the previous year. However, its net loss increased by 60% to Rs 405.7 crore from Rs 253.6 crore.
