Highlights:
- Expands cash loans business to more than 150 cities
- Added several senior leadership roles in the past six months
- Committed to deepening the financial ecosystem for young, aspirational Indians
Pune, India, 29 August 2022: Fibe, formerly known as EarlySalary and one of India’s largest consumer lending fintechs, has closed a Series D funding round of $110 million led by TPG’s The Rise Fund and Norwest Venture Partners. Existing investor Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited also participated. This marks Fibe’s largest capital raise to date following prior financing rounds, including $34 million raised from Eight Roads, Chiratae Ventures, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited and angel investors. The Series D round includes a secondary sale, and Unitus Capital acted as the exclusive advisor. The new capital will support aggressive growth over the next 24 months.
Founded in Pune in 2015, Fibe offers accessible lending solutions to working professionals, with loans up to Rs. 5 lakhs. The company has expanded into affordability-focused products and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, prioritizing education, healthcare and consumer product financing. Over its journey, Fibe has grown its presence to more than 150 cities and continues to scale its customer base.
Fibe’s mission is to create a reliable financial ecosystem for young, aspirational Indians. While banking services reach a large portion of the population, nearly half of Indians still lack credit access for various reasons. Fibe focuses on serving the underserved—especially in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities—by offering transparent, affordable credit solutions that address the needs of these segments.
Fibe’s product suite includes personal loans repayable in EMIs across multiple tenures. The company will keep expanding its BNPL offerings and build a wider partner network across healthcare and edtech sectors to better serve customers’ needs.
To deliver a superior customer and product experience, Fibe is investing in its technology and analytics capabilities while maintaining strong transparency, risk management and customer-centric practices. Over the past six months the company has strengthened its management team by hiring key executives in risk, sales, treasury and other functions to support further scale.
Fibe has rapidly scaled from operations in 18 cities to more than 150, accumulating approximately 12 million app downloads and around 1 million active customers. The company has achieved 7x growth in the last two years and established itself as a market leader in providing financial support to young middle-income Indians nationwide. The business remained profitable through the pandemic and expects substantial growth ahead.
Akshay Mehrotra, Co-founder and CEO, commented: “We follow a customer-first approach to providing credit to young, middle-income Indians and are grateful for the trust millions have placed in us. As customer aspirations and credit needs evolve, we will continue to earn that trust and grow alongside them. This funding will help expand our cash business and build capabilities to serve a larger segment efficiently. We remain confident in our ability to innovate and achieve significant growth in our customer base.”
Ashish Goyal, Co-founder and CFO, said: “Fibe’s core purpose is to increase access to financial services for its target segments. This capital infusion enables us to meet growing customer aspirations and add meaningful value to the fintech ecosystem. Investment from two marquee investors validates our principles of building a customer-focused, profitable business that advances financial inclusion.”
Akshay Tanna, Partner at TPG, said: “Fibe’s platform delivers an important financial service to India’s growing but underserved middle-income segment. By offering modest, short-duration loans at competitive rates, Fibe improves customers’ financial health and enables financing for upskilling, healthcare, emergencies and short-term cash needs. Akshay and Ashish have built a market-leading product and a strong team poised to meet the needs of India’s rising middle class. We are pleased to support the company’s next growth phase.”
Financial inclusion is central to The Rise Fund’s global impact investing strategy. The Rise Fund has invested in fintech companies worldwide that promote greater financial access and inclusion.
Niren Shah, MD at Norwest Venture Partners, said: “We are pleased to partner with Akshay and Ashish. They have built one of India’s leading, profitable and scalable consumer fintech platforms. Digital lending is among the fastest-growing fintech segments in India, and Fibe is well-positioned to serve the credit needs of millions of underserved but aspirational Indians. Its growth is driven by strong technology, analytics and governance, resulting in excellent underwriting and asset quality.”
Recent digital guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India further support a constructive environment for expanding digital financial services. Fibe plans to broaden operations across verticals and reach millions more customers. The company aims to strengthen its position in key impact areas, including cash loans for young Indians, salary advances for corporate employees, and BNPL solutions.
About The Rise Funds
The Rise Funds are part of TPG Rise, TPG’s global impact investing platform. Founded in 2016, The Rise Funds invest in high-potential, mission-driven companies aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, across sectors such as financial inclusion, education, healthcare, climate and agriculture. The Rise Funds combine impact focus with private market expertise to achieve measurable social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive returns.
About Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners is a global, multi-stage investment firm managing approximately $12.5 billion in assets. The firm invests across stages and sectors including fintech, consumer tech, SaaS, healthcare and logistics, and has backed numerous companies globally. Norwest has offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, India and Israel.
About Fibe (Formerly EarlySalary)
Fibe is a leading consumer lending app focused on young, aspirational, tech-savvy Indian consumers. The company is building a financial ecosystem that enables the mid-income group to achieve their goals, offering products such as cash loans, long-term personal loans and BNPL plans with a fully digital application experience. Over the last two years Fibe has grown significantly and has disbursed nearly 2.8 million loans worth approximately Rs. 7,500 crores.