Open raises $100 million led by Temasek

Neobanking platform Open has raised a fresh $100 million in funding led by Temasek. The firm’s series C investment round was also backed by Google, Japan-based venture capital firm SBI Investment and existing investors Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital.

The latest funding values the company at about $500 million. Open’s total fund count now stands at about $135 million.

The Bengaluru-based startup that caters to small and medium businesses will use the fresh capital to strengthen its new product lines Zwitch and BankingStack. While Zwitch is an embedded finance platform, BankingStack is a cloud native SME banking platform for financial institutions which is currently deployed at over 15 banks in India. A portion of the funds will also be used to widen the firm’s network of local SMEs to five million from the current two million, support its expansion into markets like South East Asia, Europe and the U.S. and hire new talent. The company said it will bolster its leadership team and recruit over 800 people across technology, product and business verticals.

Founded in 2017 by serial entrepreneurs Anish Achuthan, Mabel Chacko and Ajeesh Achuthan, along with ex-TaxiforSure CFO Deena Jacob, Open currently powers close to two million SMEs and processes over $20 billion in annualized transactions. The open platform integrates all the tools used by small businesses and integrates it with the business current account. The firm claims to add over 90,000 SMEs every month.

“Over the last four years, we’ve grown from strength to strength to be the fastest growing SME neo-banking platform globally. We look to expand our product range in the coming months in embedded finance and enterprise banking. We also look to cater to over five million SMEs by August 2022,” said CEO Anish Achuthan.