Dealflow | October 16, 2019

True Balance closes $23 million to expand mobile payments to rural India

Jessica Pothering
ImpactAlpha Editor

Jessica Pothering

ImpactAlpha, October 16 – True Balance started in 2014 to give prepaid mobile customers in India an easy way to check their cellular data usage and balance. It soon discovered there were other services its mobile customers lacked.

The Gurgaon and Seoul-based startup now offers a range of financial services through its app, including utility payments, small loans and insurance products, like “mosquito insurance” protecting customers against mosquito-borne diseases.

True Balance has been downloaded 70 million times, primarily by mobile users in India’s tier two and three cities, including first-time internet users.

A group of Korean investors have backed the company’s $23 million Series C round as it eyes expansion into India’s rural areas. They include NH Investment & Securities, IMM Investment, HB Investment, IBK Capital, D3 Jubilee Partners, SB Partners and Shinhan Capital.

True Balance says its mission is aligned with the government’s Digital India policy to “promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices and job opportunities.”