ClearTax raises funds from Composite Cap

THE FIRM PLANS TO UTILIZE THE CAPITAL TO EXPAND ITS CURRENT OFFERING OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR MILLENNIALS

NEW DELHI: ClearTax, a start-up that helps individuals and businesses file tax returns online, has raised $50 million (₹300 crore) in a Series B round led by Composite Capital, the company said on Tuesday.

ClearTax, run by Defmacro Software Pvt. Ltd, has previously raised $12 million from SAIF Partners along with $2 million in seed funding from Sequoia Capital India, and Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund Angel in 2016.

The Bengaluru-based start-up is backed by Silicon Valley-based angel investors, including PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, WhatsApp’s business head Neeraj Arora, Scott Bannister and Cyan Bannister and AngelList founder Naval Ravikant, among others.

The company plans to utilize the capital to accelerate growth and expand its current offering of products and services for millennials on its platform. It also plans to invest in tech infrastructure and double engineering professionals with the new round of investment.

“We are excited to partner with the ClearTax team and support their continued growth. ClearTax continues to build exceptional solutions that simplify tax fillings for both individuals and businesses in India,” Kanush Chaudhary, managing director at Composite Capital, said in a statement.

The company offers solutions including goods and services tax (GST) and E-way bill software along with business incorporation and compliance services for enterprises.

It also launched a platform for tax saving and mutual fund investment in January this year.

“The further focus would be to help consumers who are typically younger (20-30 years) build on assets, tax saving and investing… Such people are very suitable for personal financial advisory as we scale and grow,” Archit Gupta, co-founder and chief executive officer at ClearTax, said over the telephone.

ClearTax claims to have served over 2.5 million customers in 2018 and is eyeing close to 4 million users by March 2019. The company got a boost after the goods and services tax reform in July 2017.

The firm gets 75% of its business from offering its services to institutions and the rest comes from directly transacting with consumers.

It works with over 25,000 chartered accountancy firms and 100,000 businesses across sectors, including manufacturing, retail and pharma among others.