New Delhi, Jan 12: Refyne, an Earned Wage Access (EWA) solutions provider, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $82 million (approximately Rs 606.6 crore) in funding led by Tiger Global.
The Series B round also saw significant contribution from existing international investors – QED Investors, partners of DST Global, Jigsaw VC, XYZ Capital and RTP Global – and new investor Digital Horizon, according to a statement.
The funds will be used for product development, team expansion and the ramp-up of various business functions, he added.
In just 10 months after going live, Refyne has raised a total of $106 million, he said.
The company raised $16 million in Series A funding last June from QED Investors, Jigsaw VC, XYZ Capital, partners DST Global and RTP Global. He had raised $4.1 million in a funding round in December 2020.
“Refyne’s current valuation is up 6.5 times its Series A valuation,” Refyne CEO and co-founder Chitresh Sharma said, but did not disclose further details.
Refyne partners with organizations to provide plug-and-play software that allows their employees to access their earned pay in real time.
Earned Wage Access (EWA) is a concept designed as a financial wellness solution for employees. It allows employees to instantly track and withdraw their earned pay in real time, without disrupting payroll. EWA is not a loan, so Refyne charges no interest or processing fees and relieves employees of repayment pressure.
For example, the employee will be able to withdraw 30 to 70% of the 10 days of salary accumulated on the 11th of the month. This helps employees access funds from their own salary without resorting to lenders or applying for loans.
“We built Refyne on the notion that everyone should be able to manage their personal finances without risking falling into a debt trap due to cash crunches between pay cycles… Refyne has been on a hyper-growth trajectory and Series B will help scale our business to build financial inclusiveness in the workplace and eliminate predatory lending,” said Sharma.
In less than a year, Refyne’s transacting user base grew 68x and the platform saw a 165x increase in transactions over the period, according to a statement.
Refyne, founded by Chitresh Sharma and Apoorv Kumar, has partnered with over 150 organizations, serving over seven lakh employees. It expects to grow to over three million employees within 12 months.
“We believe Refyne will be the preferred partner for large employers looking to provide access to earned wages. We are delighted to support Chitresh, Apoorv and the team at Refyne as they strive to improve well-being financing of Indian labor,” said Alex Cook, Partner at Tiger Global.
Angel investors and advisors to Refyne include Indian fintech veterans Susir Kumar, founder of Intelenet, Bobby Mehta, chairman of the board of Jones Lang Lasalle, former head of TransUnion and Allstate Corp., and investor and global private venture capitalist Oliver Jung.
Its partner companies include Practo, TeamLease, CARS24, Tenon, Shadowfax, Rebel Foods, Acko, BlackBuck, Arti Group, Cafe Coffee Day, among others. (PTI)
