VC Firm Prosus Plans To Lead $50 Mn Funding Round In Fintech Startup Jar

Neha KamathDecember 10, 2024

Post Views: 7

Three points you will get to know in this article:

Prosus is making its third big fintech & financing investment following Mintifi and Vastu Housing Finance.
This follows Jar’s Series B funding round, which raised $22.6 million at a post-money valuation of $300 Mn from Tiger Global and Eximius Ventures, among others.
Jar offers an app that allows consumers to spend as little as INR 1 and claims to have over 1.5 crore users on the platform.

Prosus Set To Make It’s 3rd Major Fintech Investment, Plans To Choose Fintech Startup Jar

Global investment firm Prosus is allegedly in talks to lead a $50 million (INR 4242 crore) fundraising round for fintech company Jar.

Nischay and Misbah Ashraf founded Jar in January 2021, and it offers a smartphone app that allows consumers to spend as little as INR 1. It claims to have over 1.5 million users on its platform.

Naspers’ Dutch-listed investment arm Prosus has expanded its acquisition pipeline in India, making its third big fintech and financing investment following Mintifi and Vastu Housing Finance.

It also backed Bluestone, an IPO-bound jewellery firm, earlier this year.

“The due diligence is underway, and Prosus, through its venture arm, is likely to lead the new funding round,” a person familiar with the situation told ET, adding that the exact details of the agreement may yet change as other investors join the round.

In response to media’s inquiry, Prosus stated, “The ET story today is based on speculations, and we do not comment on such market rumours.”

Fintech Jar Funding Rounds, Total Funding, Business Model

This follows Jar’s Series B funding round, which raised $22.6 million at a post-money valuation of $300 million from Tiger Global, Eximius Ventures, and others. It has teamed with PhonePe to provide a new ‘Daily Savings’ feature to encourage the purchase of digital gold.

Jar has raised more than $61 million since its launch in 2021.

“In addition to gold, Jar sells lab-grown diamonds. There is a significant desire to purchase jewels as an investment, which is why Jar developed its own brand. Its gross sales run rate exceeded INR 100 crore in October, according to a person familiar with the subject.

VC Prosus’ Investments in Indian Startups, Swiggy’s IPO, Prosus’ Profits From Swiggy

The development comes just days after Prosus invested $79.9 million in finance company Mintifi in October, acquiring a 10.65% equity share. In addition to Mintifi, the Dutch investor spent $100 million in Vastu Housing Finance in the same month, acquiring 8.4% shares.

Meesho, Elastic Run, and Eruditus are some of its other major bets in India. It also operates PayU in India.

Prosus’ investments in Indian organizations coincided with the public launch of its first India investment, Swiggy.

On November 13, the Swiggy went public, with its shares trading at INR 412 on the BSE, a 6% premium over its IPO price of INR 390.

Prosus sold 109.09 million Swiggy shares in the IPO, raising around $500 million. “The internal rate of return (IRR) of our stake in Swiggy, based on the IPO price and the net proceeds of the stake we sold, was 18%,” according to the company’s H1 report.

Buoyed by the good profits it received from the Swiggy IPO, it was reported last month that the investor is now considering the IPO of its fintech company PayU’s India branch in 2025. Prosus’ chief investment officer, Ervin Tu, stated in November that the investor is looking for the optimum timing to launch the IPO.

In addition to PayU, Prosus predicts that Meesho and BlueStone will go public within the next 18 months. It also sees Eruditus, Captain Fresh, Mintifi, Vastu, and Mensa as viable IPO possibilities in the future.