Fintech startup Clear raises $75Mn in Stripe backed Series C funding to fuel international expansion

Online taxation and fintech software provider Clear, formerly known as ClearTax, has raised $75 million in its Series C funding round,  led by Kora Capital.

The round also included participation from Stripe, the US-based financial services and SaaS company, Alua Capital, Think Investments and several other existing investors. With this, Clear is valued at over $700 million.

The funding round also marks the second investment by Stripe in the world’s second-largest internet market.

According to Archit Gupta, co-founder, and CEO of the 10-year-old Clear, the proceeds from the funding round will be utilized towards accelerating its growth into the B2B credit and payments segments as well as increasing its footprint in the international markets such as Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). For now, the startup will focus on the functions of the product, engineering, and design and hire 250 new members to the team in the coming months. It aims to serve more than 10,000 large enterprises and 10 million small businesses over the next couple of years.

Clear, founded by Gupta, Srivatsan Chari, and Ankit Solanki, ranks among the first set of Indian startups to be funded by Y Combinator. Its earliest investors include high-profile investors such as Sequoia Capital India, Founders Fund, and Elevation Capital. The startup is known to aid individuals and businesses in filing their tax returns, as well as provide wealth management advice to individuals, and help businesses with e-invoicing and credit. It lets its users have access to solutions like GST and e-way bill software and bulk import their sales and purchase data directly from their existing accounting software.

The last 18 months have been kind to the startup, whose SaaS platform recorded a growth of five times and added more than 3000 large enterprise customers during that period. It claims that 6 million individuals, over 1 million small and medium-sized businesses, and over 30,000 enterprises use its platform.

Clear also clocked a rise in usage with over one million small businesses on the platform. Today, it processes over 10% of the country’s business invoices with a GMV of $400 billion. It expects its annualized revenue run rate (currently around $25 million) to reach $45 million over the next 24 months.

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