Castler, an escrow banking platform, has secured $5 million in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Capital 2B (an Info Edge fund) and IIFL Fintech Fund. Other investors who participated in the funding round include Stride Ventures and Piper Serica, as well as returning investors Zerodha, Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, and FAAD Network.
According to Castler, the recently raised funds will be utilized to expand their domestic and global operations by diversifying their escrow product portfolio. They also plan to increase their banking partnerships to 25 banks and expand their business tenfold over the next few years, as per reported by Inc42.
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Commenting on the funds raised, Vineet Singh, cofounder & CEO, Castler said, “Trust is the most important digital currency and Castler is building the epitome of Trust -as-a-Service. Our astronomic growth, achieved with a team of just 20 people, is a testament to the strength and capabilities of our unique digital escrow product.”
Castler, which was founded in 2021 by Dinesh Kumar, Kumar Amit, and Vineet Singh, has been operating as a middle-ware platform between banks and enterprises using its Escrow Banking Stack. Its primary goal is to address various challenges related to constantly evolving business and revenue models, intricate transaction flows, fund sources, identity authentication, fraud prevention, and customer protection.
Castler claims to be affiliated with ten banking partners, providing escrow services to over 500 enterprises and overseeing transactions worth over INR 5000 crores per month.
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Before this, Castler asserts that it secured $1.5 million in funding from a group of investors including Zerodha, Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns, FAAD Network, Lets Venture, and AngelList.
The founders of Castler strive to run their startups based on the principles of sound governance and responsible execution. As part of their efforts to expand the business, the company recently named Kumar Amit, a former Vice President of Razorpay, as its COO and co-founder.
In the digital lending business, the Indian fintech sector has seen an uptick during 2022. Addressing the Inc42 Fintech Summit 2022, Indifi cofounder and CEO Alok Mittal said, “Collaboration between banks and fintech players can boost credit access to the underserved segment and SMEs because 75% of MSME lending in the country still is led by banks.”
The Indian fintech industry has witnessed significant growth in cross-border business ventures, thanks to the efforts of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to promote the adoption of UPI services overseas. Paytm has recently announced its intention to introduce UPI International and enable international transactions on the platform, contributing to this trend.
By 2030, the Indian fintech market is projected to reach a value of $2.1 trillion, with digital lending emerging as the most rapidly expanding segment.
In India, several popular fintech startups are operating, including ZestMoney, Fino Payments Bank, and Jupiter, among others.
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About Castler
Castler is a global escrow platform for businesses that provides local and international escrow solutions. Vineet Singh and Dinesh Kumar, two seasoned businessmen, and former Info Edge executives, founded Castler, which provides businesses and banks with a distinctive Escrow Management TSP solution.
The company has been in operation since April 2021 and serves as the go-to escrow provider for more than 150 businesses, managing monthly transactions of more than INR 1000 crores ($130 million). In a recent round of seed fundraising led by Rainmatter, the venture capital arm of Zerodha, Castler raised $1 million.
