2023年1月6日

2023年1月6日，班加罗尔:印度第一个游戏化储蓄平台Fello，专为印度的z世代和年轻的千禧一代设计，在最新一轮融资中筹集了400万美元，由美国Courtside Ventures领投，由Entrepreneur first, Ycombinator, Kube Venture和Upsparks参与。天使投资人、Cred创始人Kunal Shah、grow联合创始人Lalit Kishore、Charlie Songhurst、Dafeng和Alan Rutledge参与了本轮融资。此前，在2021年11月，该公司在种子轮融资100万美元。Fello将利用这笔资金开发独特的游戏化金融产品，聘请各职能部门的顶尖人才，并将其用户基础扩大到印度一线和二线城市的数百万人。Fello由YCombinator W22毕业生Manish Maryada和Shourya Lala于2021年创立，在游戏和金融的交叉点建立了一款革命性的产品。该公司的目标是让金融变得有趣和有回报，从而帮助印度年轻人建立更好的财务健康状况。这个游戏化的储蓄平台通过游戏激励用户存钱，并以高于传统储蓄账户的回报增长他们的资金。该公司的目标是到2023年底拥有500万客户，并通过一系列创新的投资游戏化产品，为印度银行服务不足的人口提供服务。对于此次融资活动，Fello联合创始人兼首席执行官Manish Maryada表示:“我们很高兴在新的一年开始，通过新的和现有的大投资者进行新一轮融资。这重申了我们的愿景，即成为印度首选的“有趣的储蓄应用程序”，结合了金融和游戏，从而在印度年轻人中灌输和鼓励储蓄和投资的习惯。 Presently, we have a user base of over 500,000, with 72% of customers coming to the platform organically, through referrals. We are confident that with our accelerated growth and expansion, we will be able to reach our target of 5 million users by December 2023.” Shourya Lala, Co-founder, and CTO, Fello said, “We have seen massive tailwinds for our game-based savings model in the last one year. Of the 846 million internet users in India, nearly 433 million play games on their mobile phones, two or three times a week. Of this, 75% of internet users are between the age group of 18-30, and interestingly, they shy away from saving and investing. Fello’s market scope is unprecedented. With this fundraise; we aim to accelerate our product development, market penetration, and talent acquisition.” Kai Bond, Partner of Courtside Ventures said, “India has attracted unprecedented investment in the last four years in the fintech and gaming sector. As a global game investor, Courtside Ventures has remained very active in the ecosystem. The Indian Gaming audience is one of the largest and most active markets in the world, yet financial services applications attract a fraction of that gaming audience. There is a tremendous market opportunity to bridge the gap in financial literacy and invest in a fun and gamified experience. We are incredibly bullish that there is a massive opportunity at the intersection of gaming and financial services in India.” Matt Clifford, Co-founder, and CEO of Entrepreneur First said, “Entrepreneur First invested in Manish and Shourya as individuals, pre-idea because we recognized their extraordinary potential to build a world-leading company. In combining their talents to build Fello, they’ve made that potential a reality. As the team redefines finance for India’s next generation, we’ve been proud to back the team since its inception, and are so excited to see them hit yet another milestone with this raise. It’s founders like Fello’s that have motivated us to double down on our investment in India’s extraordinary talent pool, and we can’t wait to see what they do next” Fello’s other investors include prominent names like Acequia Capital and independent investors Ashneer Grover, Ex-MD, BharatPe, Bala Parthasarathy, and Chairman, Freo, to name a few.