Fintech startup Novio has raised Rs 100 crore in a mixture of debt and fairness funding from Cornerstone Ventures. The spherical additionally noticed participation from Shepherd’s Hill Non-public Fairness, ESV-Arthya AIF, and Roots Ventures. Innoven Capital and Alteria Capital supplied enterprise debt funding.

The raised funding can be used to broaden its attain throughout tier II to tier V markets, strengthen partnerships with banks, and improve its product choices, together with deeper UPI integration and AI-led credit score advisory instruments.

Novio, which was based in 2024 by Aditya Gupta, Sandeep Ghule, Anand Kapadia and Manish Sinha, focuses on offering credit score entry to people and not using a formal credit score historical past. Its core product is a bank card backed by a hard and fast deposit, permitting customers to entry credit score with out earnings proof or prior credit score checks.

“We’re constructing a easy and accessible pathway to credit score for hundreds of thousands of underserved customers,” an organization spokesperson stated. “Our focus is on combining secured credit score merchandise with digital comfort to assist customers enter the formal monetary system.”

By its app, clients can open a hard and fast deposit and obtain a RuPay bank card inside hours. The deposit acts as collateral whereas incomes curiosity, enabling customers to construct a credit score profile with restricted threat.

Novio has additionally built-in its bank card with UPI, permitting customers to make on a regular basis funds utilizing their credit score restrict. This function is aimed toward easing the transition for first-time customers into formal credit score methods by leveraging acquainted digital fee strategies, the startup stated.

The startup works with banking companions together with SBM Financial institution and DCB Financial institution to problem its playing cards. The playing cards provide options comparable to rewards, journey advantages and real-time redemption choices.

Novio claims to have surpassed 100,000 lively cardholders inside a yr of launch and goals to problem 5 million playing cards over the subsequent three years.