Open Banking Software App OneStack Secures $2 Mn Funding by growX Ventures and Stride Ventures

OneStack raises USD 2Mn from growX ventures, Stride Ventures, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalyst, Mr. Sunil Kulkarni along with other existing investors

OneStack plans to digitize over 1,000 cooperative banks and credit societies this year, marking a significant milestone in its mission to empower these financial institutions

OneStack, a leading technology company focused on empowering cooperative banks and credit societies in India, today announced that it has raised $2 million in its latest funding round. This investment will power the company's growth, drive team expansion, foster innovation, and establish nationwide offices, propelling it to unparalleled success.

With this new funding, OneStack plans to digitize over 1,000 cooperative banks and credit societies this year, marking a significant milestone in its mission to empower these financial institutions. The funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including growX, Stride, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalyst, Mr. Sunil Kulkarni, and existing investors.

"We are thrilled to have the support of our investors as we embark on this exciting phase of growth," said Amit Kapoor, Founder and CEO of OneStack. "This infusion of funds does more than merely enable us to augment our product suite and broaden our footprint across India; it propels our growth journey at an accelerated pace. With these additional resources, we are on the cusp of a revolution, empowering cooperative banks and credit societies to stand their ground in this digital epoch. Our mission extends beyond transformation and growth – we are dedicated to financial inclusion, bridging the gap for the next 40 crore Bharat customers. We are set to transform the banking landscape, revolutionizing customer service and fuelling unprecedented growth.”

OneStack is launching OneCBS (Core Banking Solution), which will further revolutionize the cooperative banking landscape. OneCBS is a cloud-based platform with integrated mobile applications and switch connectivities. This innovative solution enables banks and societies to streamline their operations, enhance customer experiences, and make data-driven decisions.

"OneStack is the vanguard in the cooperative banking sector, smashing through the digital divide and equipping banks and societies to fulfill the needs of today's digital-native customers," stated Manu Rikhye, Partner at growX. "Their trailblazing solutions will not only retain existing customers but also attract new ones, driving financial inclusion and growth."

Furthermore, OneStack is introducing SoundBox, a branded merchant ecosystem solution for cooperative banks and credit societies. By offering their own SoundBox, these institutions can provide seamless digital payment services to their merchants, competing with leading fintech players in India.

"We are excited to partner with OneStack. They are focused on catering to the banks of Bharat and enriching the digital financial journeys of last-mile customers. With their innovative white-labelled app, OneStack is empowering cooperative banks to provide a personalized digital banking experience to their customers. They have emerged as the catalysts, bridging the divide for the underserved segment by opening the gates to essential digital banking services and contributing both to the Digital Bharat initiative and the Government's financial inclusion goals," added Mr Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, Founder & Managing Partner, Stride Ventures.

The addressable market for OneStack's services is vast, with over 1,200 urban cooperative banks, 8.5 lakh societies, and more than 380 million Indians banking with cooperative banks and societies. These financial institutions hold approximately INR 20 lakh crore in deposits. However, many of them lack the necessary infrastructure and technology to cater to the evolving needs of their customers.

OneStack's Mobile Application has become a game-changer in the cooperative banking sector, with a remarkable track record of activating over 200+ banks and societies. The integration of OneStack's services into a bank's existing systems is a seamless process, taking only two weeks, including testing. OneStack provides comprehensive technical support and training to ensure a smooth transition and continued success.

OneStack’s objective is to make every Bharat Bank a Neo bank, OneStack aspires to be the TSP (Technical Service Provider) for cooperative sector providing Core Banking Solution (OneCBS), Mobile Banking Application, UPI/QR Services & Soundbox.

Onestack will digitize the cooperative sector with new age technology, which will enable the banks to engage & retain their customers & grow their CASA (Current Accounts & Savings Account). The customers of these banks will now be able to access to the full range of needs-based financial services – savings, credit, insurance, payments – and over all solve the financial inclusion objective of Bharat.

Stride Ventures Announces 1st Close of Third Venture Debt Fund at $100M

• Stride Ventures announces the first close of its third venture debt fund at $100 million
• The first close of this fund has been achieved within 4 months of receiving the license for the third fund.
• Stride will target a final close of over $200 million for the third fund.

Stride Ventures, one of the leading and most active venture debt firms in India, has announced the successful first close of its third venture debt fund at $100M. The pioneering firm continues to be at the forefront of the venture debt market in India and is targeting a final close of over $200 million for the third fund.

The Indian Venture Debt market is expected to reach an annual deployment of $ 3-4 billion by 2025 and Stride is strategically harnessing this growth potential to build a legacy brand. It has demonstrated industry-leading returns with best-in-class asset quality and a well-diversified portfolio of 100+ market leaders like SUGAR Cosmetics, The Good Glamm Group, Mensa Brands, Exotel, Yubi, MoneyView, VideoVerse, Miko, Perfios, HealthifyMe, Ace Turtle and Waycool to name a few. During the past two years, the firm has received multiple prestigious awards for its role in introducing and pioneering alternative funding in India.

“We are ecstatic to announce the first close of our third fund," said Ishpreet Gandhi, Founder and Managing Partner of Stride Ventures. "Stride takes immense pride in being the largest contributor of credit to new age businesses that has sanctioned over ~ INR 5000 Crore in the Indian startup ecosystem. Stride Ventures' success in delivering value to its investors is a testament to our rigorous processes and strong internal governance structures.”

The firm accomplished another remarkable feat by successfully distributing over 100% of its commitments, which included coupon payouts and principal redemptions, to the early investors of its Fund 1.

“Stride’s founder-centric approach coupled with the overwhelming support from our investors, enables us to keep raising the bar for the venture debt market in India,” said Apoorva Sharma, Managing Partner at Stride Ventures. "We see a growing demand for venture debt as startups look to optimise their capital structure and preserve equity for future rounds. With the launch of our third fund, we're well-positioned to meet the unique debt requirements and global ambitions of Indian startups."

Stride Ventures’ third fund has received solid backing from a varied group of institutional investors, including banks, insurance companies, and family offices. This fund will persist in making prudent investments in fast-growing startups that exhibit robust business models, strong unit economics, and skilled management teams. We also want to take this opportunity to express gratitude to our investors, founders, and the entire VC ecosystem for their continued trust and support.

About Stride Ventures

Stride Ventures is a venture debt firm that provides customized debt solutions to startups in India. The firm is focused on supporting high-growth startups in sectors such as Consumer internet, FinTech, SaaS, and B2B platforms. Stride Ventures has already invested in more than 100 startups across its two funds and aims to continue to support the best startups in India with its third fund.

For more information, please visit - https://strideventures.in/

Toothsi Raises $9 Mn as Debt Round Led by Stride Ventures

The company plans to invest in technological advancements, geographical expansion, and brand building

toothsi, the leading at-home smile makeover brand in India has raised $9 million (INR 66.6 crores) in a round led by Stride ventures. Building on the growth trajectory, the company plans to invest in modern and consumer-facing technologies and automation. Currently present in 11 cities across the country, it also aims to expand its geographic footprint, strengthen the brand and create a Clinical Beauty category in India.

The company is committed to providing Indians a better smile with its clear aligners, a convenient alternative to conventional braces at the comfort of their home. It uses clear aligner technology that is built in-house to design customized aligners as per each customers’ requirements. The dental tech company, founded in 2018 by Dr. Arpi Mehta, Dr. Pravin Shetty, Dr. Manjul Jain, and Dr. Anirudh Kale has successfully designed over 65,000 smile makeover plans with a team of veteran orthodontists and dentists, tech experts, and business-minded professionals. Owing to the technologically advanced, world-class products, at-home service combined with growth-promoting business strategies, and innovative marketing campaigns, the company recorded 5x year-on-year growth in FY 2021.

Dr. Arpi Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO, toothsi, said “We've carved out a niche for ourselves in the Indian market in just three years, and our business has expanded five-fold. We aim to leverage our health tech doctor directed platform to provide Indians the opportunity to improve their appearance and feel more confident in social situations. Our partnership with Stride Ventures will enable us to reach new heights and enhance customer experience.”

Commenting on this, Mr. Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, Founder and Managing Partner, Stride Ventures, said “This partnership with toothsi is our latest endeavor towards engaging with more new-age healthcare startups. The stellar growth shown by the company is a testament to their team’s commitment to excellence. Their disruptive solution to orthodontic issues in the form of customizable invisible aligners has been creating waves in this consumer-driven space and has captured 35% market share.”

Stride Ventures is a leading venture debt firm in India. With the country undergoing a shift towards a healthier lifestyle, this will be yet another investment by the firm in the healthcare sector, as it continues to focus on the healthcare space at large. The amount will be sanctioned from Stride Ventures India Fund II.

toothsi whitening kit

In addition to exceptional orthodontic products, toothsi offers a wide array of oral care products such as new age sonic toothbrushes, advanced teeth whitening products which use industry-leading enamel-safe ingredients, and aligner accessories thus creating a formidable portfolio of both services and products. Diversifying its expertise in the skincare space, toothsi introduced a sister brand, Skinnsi which offers advanced laser hair removal services and skin treatments at home. Skinnsi plans to build an elaborate portfolio of cosmetic dermatology services in the near future.

toothsi raised $5 million in Series A funding in January last year from Think Investments – a San Francisco-based hedge fund, the family office of JM Financial’s Nimesh Kampani, Siddharth Shah, Co-founder and CEO at API Holdings (Ascent Health), and Ramakant Sharma, Co-founder and COO of Livspace. Later the same year it raised $20 million in B funding from Eight Roads Ventures, Think Investments, and the Mankekar Family Office.

Logistics Solution Provider LetsTransport Raises ₹10 Cr from Stride Ventures

• Raises INR 33 crores during the COVID-19 crisis to strengthen LetsTransport’s operational capabilities to help reshape the logistics ecosystem in India

Stride Ventures, one of India’s leading venture debt funds invested INR 10 crores in LetsTransport, the leading aggregator for fulfilling intra-city last-mile deliveries for enterprise customers. This investment by Stride Ventures boosts investors’ confidence in the logistics sector and showcases allegiance to be a part of its transformation. The fund intends to be a strategic partner in LetsTransport's journey with their customized offerings and deep relationships across banks and corporates. During the COVID-19 crisis, the company has raised a total of INR 33 crores that signals strong investor confidence in the new-age logistic players.

LetsTransport provides urban logistics solutions to enterprises by offering tech-enabled intra-regional transportation services. It enables enterprise clients to book trucks and manage bookings through their mobile app, call and website. This tech-enabled urban logistics player deals in the light commercial vehicle segment, distance range up to 300 Kms, present in 15 cities in India with a solid client base consisting of marquee names and a registered trucker supply of 60,000+ drivers. The company primarily provides logistics solutions across various industry verticals and Its competitive advantage lies in its ability to cross utilize for higher capacity, increased asset sweating and an efficient cost structure.

Pushkar Singh, Co-founder & CEO, LetsTransport, added, “In a bid to help streamline urban logistics for enterprises in these trying times, we are constantly scaling up our operations and network by enhancing our capabilities. Enterprise businesses are increasingly looking to partner with organized logistics players to facilitate direct to consumer deliveries. LetsTransport is driven to convert this pandemic into an opportunity by maximizing the conversion of the unorganized sector into an organized one. We are happy to get an opportunity to partner with Stride Ventures and leverage their prior experience in asset financing segment that will help us to further scale our business."

Ishpreet Gandhi, Managing Partner, Stride Ventures, said "While the sector has been adversely impacted by the lockdown, LetsTransport's robust business and operating model have helped them navigate through these challenging times. The company’s swift recovery can be attributed to their superior tech-enabled business processes, large enterprise relationships including essential goods, and the ability of the founders to onboard new clients through their unique offering of on-demand trucking. We are excited about our partnership with LetsTransport and are fully committed to support the company and its vision going forward.”

LetsTransport aggregates light commercial vehicles for urban logistics and has onboarded 60,000+ truckers on its platform. LetsTransport works across industry sectors like organized retail, FMCG and e-commerce, distribution and 3PL companies. Some of its clients include Amazon, Flipkart, Bisleri, Vishal Mega Mart, Future Supply Chain, Coca-Cola, Delhivery, and Udaan. The company offers customized logistics solutions for clients, along with other value-added services such as screened drivers, audited and GPS-enabled vehicles, point-to-point billing, status updates, 24×7 service, and greater efficiency, all at transparent and economical pricing. (www.letstransport.in)

Delhi based Stride Ventures is focused on providing debt solutions to growth stage start-ups. Stride provides tailor-made debt solutions to start-ups, enabling them to bridge the working capital discrepancy and strategically allocate capital. Bringing more than six decades of collective underwriting experience, the fund helps its portfolio companies leverage the banking ecosystem through their domain expertise and extensive network.Stride Ventures had previously announced their third investment in Incredible Technologies, a used two-wheeler market place in April. The fund announced the first close of its maiden fund in November, 2019.

Two Wheeler Marketplace CredR Secures Debt Funding From Stride Ventures

Mumbai based Incredible Technologies Limited or CredR has secured an undisclosed round of funding in Debt from Stride Ventures. CredR is India’s largest and most trusted consumer brand for used motorcycles. The brand aims at resolving the most common conflicts that a buyer or seller of used automobiles may face and boasts of a robust online as well as offline platform for buying and selling the same.

The infusion of new funds will be utilized by the company for financing the purchase of automobiles.

CredR has an asset light Online-to-Offline distribution model, which has scaled rapidly to over 45 showrooms to become India’s leading used motorcycle brand in the country. While the online channel helps CredR leverage the growing internet user base to raise awareness, generate interest and build a strong brand, showrooms facilitate a standardized and transparent purchasing experience to the consumer. CredR powers exchange programs at leading OEM showrooms of Hero, Honda, Suzuki, TVS, Yamaha, Bajaj, Harley Davidson and Royal Enfield.

Commenting on the fund raise, Nikhil Jain, Co-founder, Incredible Technologies, stated, "We found excellent partner in Stride, whose deep connects in debt ecosystem and experience in asset financing segment will help us massively to scale our business. We specifically like their approach of thinking like an entrepreneur and not as conventional lender”

Ishpreet Gandhi, Managing Partner, Stride Ventures, said, "India is the biggest two wheeler market in the world. CredR is tapping into a market with enormous potential by leveraging technology enabled solutions. More importantly, by ensuring transparency and affordability without compromising on quality, they are enhancing the trust of the consumers.”

About Incredible Technologies

CredR aims to simplify the entire process of transacting in used motorcycles by offering industry’s first in class products / services for building the trust in a segment which is highly unorganized and fragmented.Company operates India’s first and largest chain of CredR branded retail showrooms across major cities like Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Jaipur, Kota, and Hyderabad through the franchise model. These showrooms offer customers a wide range of used refurbished motorcycles at best prices.

Using its proprietary technology and full-stack vertically integrated business model, CredR is revolutionising the entire customer experience. The company raised its seed round from the likes of Rohit Bansal, Kunal Bahl, K Ganesh, Sameer Sawhney, Deb and Amit Agarwal. It is backed by institutions such as Omidyar Networks, Eight Road Ventures, Fidelity & proprietary investment arm, AngelList and GrowthStory.

About Stride Ventures

Delhi based Stride Ventures is focused on providing debt solutions to growth stage start-ups. As opposed to the ‘One Size Fits All’ approach, Stride provides tailor-made debt solutions to start-ups, enabling them to bridge the working capital discrepancy and strategically allocate capital. Bringing more than six decades of collective underwriting experience, the fund helps its portfolio companies leverage the banking ecosystem through their domain expertise and extensive network.

Stride Ventures had previously announced their first investment in Stellapps Technologies along with the first close of their maiden fund in November, 2019.