Gold is considered India’s universal asset with 98.7% of Indian households having an investment in gold. Gold jewellery and ornaments are passed on from generation to generation and hold massive sentimental value for families. On average, an Indian household, holds 100 grams of gold worth $7K, resulting in an estimated $2Tn worth of gold stored at home or in bank lockers. Being the largest consumer of gold in the world, it is safe to say India has a historic love affair with the yellow metal.

Moreover, being highly liquid and universally acceptable, gold forms an easy collateral for credit. As the Indian economy booms and demand for credit rises, we sit upon a uniquely Indian opportunity to collateralise household gold to fuel India’s growth.

As simple as it sounds, this opportunity has been hiding in plain sight for decades. That is until Sumit Maniyar, the founder of Rupeek came across it in 2015.

Rupeek is India’s leading asset-backed, digital lending fintech platform revolutionizing the gold lending industry by digitizing the gold loan experience and providing a comprehensive financial ecosystem designed to monetize gold, thus catering to the aspirational needs of Indians at their doorstep. Rupeek’s core offering is to provide gold loans at a customer’s doorstep, eliminating any friction points and destigmatizing the entire process.

Essentially providing “gold loans on the cloud” in venture capital parlance.

Once in Rupeek’s ecosystem, customers can access friction-free credit, gold backed credit cards, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products and even invest based on their household gold. Thus, Rupeek provides simple everyday banking solutions structured around gold and democratises financial inclusion through the Rupeek mobile app.

Sumit Maniyar, Founder and CEO, Rupeek: “Rupeek is the first brand that has digitised the entire process of obtaining secured credit against gold holdings, allowing users to get instant credit from the comfort of their homes. Our aim is to set the foundation for tech-led gold monetisation in the country through unique, industry-first innovations and further, unlock growth and credit for a billion Indians.” 

Capitalising on this opportunity, Rupeek has reached an annual loan disbursement rate of US$ 1 Billion in December – the highest by any fintech in the asset backed lending category. Rupeek actively services more than 70k customers in 32 cities across 350+ partner branches and is on track to scale to 120 cities in 2022. We are excited to partner with Rupeek in its growth journey and help unlock the true potential of India’s gold.

Prashant Mehta - “ Sumit and the strong leadership team at Rupeek are at the forefront of product and technology innovation for gold-based digital financial products. Rupeek is targeting a massive $2 Trillion opportunity, democratizing access to cheap capital and fuelling India’s economy. In Rupeek, we believe we’ve truly found a unique fintech idea, massively disrupting the status quo of an entire industry “

Link to release: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/companies/gold-loan-platform-rupeek-raises-34-mn-led-by-lightbox-7924281.html

• Year of investment

  2022

• Location

  Bangalore