India-based neobank Zolve nets $15m in Accel, Lightspeed-led round

India-based global neobank Zolve said it raised US$15 million in a seed funding round led by Accel and Lightspeed.

The fundraise also saw participation from Blume Ventures and angel backers such as Helion co-founder Ashish Gupta, Twitter angel backer Greg Kidd, Cred founder Kunal Shah, DST Global’s Rahul Mehta, and Coatue Capital’s Rahul Kishore.

Also pitching in was Uber backer Founder Collective, marking its first investment in an Indian startup.

Zolve founder Raghunandan G / Photo credit: Zolve

Founded in December last year, the fintech firm aims to provide easier access to financial products for its users moving from India to the US or vice versa. Zolve claims it caters to a potential US$85 billion market looking for cross-border neobanking services.

The India-based firm was established by Raghunandan G, who previously served as director and founder of TaxiForSure, a mobility startup acquired by Ola in 2015 in a US$200 million deal. He has also made investments in over 40 startups, including Ninjacart, Bounce, and Vedantu.

The company said it plans to use the new funds to build up its technology platform, make new hires, and up its marketing efforts.

“The global citizen community is largely underserved in terms of access to financial services, and we believe that there is a huge market opportunity for Zolve,” said Accel partner Anand Daniel.