Taneja Family Trust, Anju Family Personal Trust, UK2 Family Trust, and MN Family Trust are leading the convertible debt campaign for consumer lending and payments startup Slice, which aims to raise approximately $36 million, or Rs 300 crore. While 8i Ventures and Blume Ventures also make sizeable investments.
According to Slice’s regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies, the board has approved a special resolution to raise up to Rs 300 crore, or roughly $36 million, through the issuance of up to 30,000 compulsory convertible debentures at an issue price of Rs 100,000 each.
With a combined investment of Rs 30 crore, Taneja Family Trust, Anju Family Personal Trust, UK2 Family Trust, and MN Family Trust are co-leading the round.
Inland Financial Services, Mintcap Enterprises, Stargazer Ventures, Roger Bravo Advisors, and Broadbridge Capital Management are among the other investors that have taken part. A further seven people joined the debt financing round, along with Krishna Kumar Karwa, Aditya Jadhav, Aryaman Jadhav, Zahir Merchant, Shikha Begwani, Nilesh Mahendra Popat, Khyati Vyas, Simran Jhaveri, and Kalpana Kiran Maniar.
Slice is a millennial-focused physical and virtual card that was founded by Rajan Bajaj. It helps people establish credit scores by allowing professionals and students to make online purchases of collateral-free goods and services on estimated monthly installments (EMIs) via an app.
The company has not yet released FY24 figures, but Slice increased threefold in FY23 to Rs 847 crore from Rs 283 crore in FY22. Slice’s losses increased by 59.8% to Rs 406 crore in FY23 from Rs 254 crore in FY22 due to the three-fold increase in employee benefits and non-performing assets.
Including a substantial $220 million Series B round led by Tiger Global and Insight partners, the Bengaluru-based company has raised close to $400 million to date. As per media reports, Rajan Bajaj, the founder and CEO, owns a 9.3% stake, while Tiger Global and Insight Partners hold 7.9% and 6.6% of the company.
The National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) approval of the company’s merger with North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB) also garnered media attention. In October 2023, both businesses made their merger announcement. Slice paid roughly $3.42 million to purchase a 5% share in the bank with its headquarters in Guwahati in March of last year.
