OneCard is India's 104th unicorn, raises $100 mn in Series D led by Temasek

OneCard, a mobile-first credit card firm, became the 104th unicorn in India after it raised $100 million in a series D round of funding led by Temasek.

In 2022 so far, India has produced more than 20 fintech unicorns, which includes OneCard, Open, Oxyzo, and Yubi (formerly CredAvenue).

The latest round by OneCard, owned by Pune-based FPL Technologies, also saw investment from existing investors such as QED, Sequoia Capital, and Hummigbird Ventures.

The fundraise comes days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cracked its whip on non-banking-led credit lines via prepaid payment instruments (PPIs).

Temasek India confirmed the news of its investment in OneCard and said the recent RBI crackdown didn't impact the company. 

“OneCard is not impacted by the PPI guidelines because it was not a PPI issuer and like some of the other companies, which now have to rebuild their business model,” said Mohit Bhandari, managing director, investment (India), of Temasek.

“Onecard is a tech solution provider for the banks. It’s a proper credit card that the banks issue. OneCard, of course, plays a role as a technology solution provider there,” he said.

FPL Technologies had raised $75 million earlier this year as part of its Series C fundraise. The round was raised from existing investors QED Investors, Janchor Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners, and others.

The company was founded in 2015 by Anurag Sinha, Rupesh Kumar, and Vibhav Hathi. The trio come with a banking background. 

According to the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022, India will have 122 new unicorns in the next two to four years. 

While addressing the Indian diaspora in Munich, Germany, last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the country was leading the “way of innovation”. “There was a time when India was nowhere in the race of start-ups. Today, we are the third-largest startup ecosystem,” Modi was quoted as saying.