ZETA RAISES $250 MN FROM SOFTBANK FUND, TURNS UNICORN

MUMBAI: Banking tech startup Zeta, founded by serial entrepreneur Bhavin Thurakia and Ramki Gaddipati on Monday said that it has raised $250 million from Softbank Vision Fund 2, in its first investment from an institutional investor.

With the capital from Softbank, the startup is now valued at $1.45 billion, and has become a unicorn. Investment bank Avendus Capital advised Zeta on the fundraise.

“Most banks are using decades-old software built when Mainframes and Cobol were in vogue. They have been slow to innovate and provide poor user experiences. With Zeta, FIs can leverage a modern, cloud native platform and improve speed to market, agility, cost to income ratio and user experience” said Bhavin Turakhia, CEO & Co-founder, Zeta. Zeta’s banking technology stack provides banks the technology to create digital products with enhanced user experience and significantly reduced time to market.

The current suite of products includes Zeta Tachyon Credit, Debit and Prepaid processing with card controls and personal finance management capabilities; Zeta Tachyon Loans—a buy-now-pay-later and personal loan management platform; Zeta Tachyon Deposits – a modern core for checking accounts, savings accounts and deposits; and Zeta Tachyon Mobile.

Zeta is already working with over 10 banks and 25 fintechs, across eight countries, including HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, RBL Bank, SBM Bank India among others.

“Indian banks are using our platform for multiple products like credit cards, savings accounts, or unsecured loans,” said Turakhia.

“The tie up with HDFC Bank is the largest in scale in India,” he said, adding that Zeta is working with HDFC Bank on several product launches which might be released this year.