India Startup Clear Eyes Payments Push With Stripe’s Backing

(Bloomberg) -- Indian startup Clear raised $75 million from investors including global fintech giant Stripe Inc. to fund its expansion into online payments and other new businesses.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Series C round was led by Kora Capital and joined by Alua Capital, Think Investments and existing backers of Bangalore-headquartered Clear. The startup, which offers cloud software subscription for tax filings, plans to use the new capital to develop business-to-business payments and credit as well as grow in international markets, it said in an statement on Sunday.

Investors are increasingly flocking to India’s digital financial services market, drawn by the industry’s accelerating growth. Clear’s platform grew five times in the past 18 months and it has added 3,000-plus large enterprises and more than 1 million small business to its roster of customers, the company said.

The Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator-backed startup said it now processes more than a tenth of India’s business invoices. The startup, which also offers wealth management, services tax filing and electronic invoicing services, recently acquired yBANQ to expand into payments -- an industry that counts Stripe as one of the largest players.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.