Tiger Global leads $32-million round in Jar savings app at $200-million valuation

Rocketship.vc, Third Prime, Stonks, Force Ventures joined the fundraising as new investors, as did existing investors Arkam Ventures and WEH. Several angel investors – including Klarna’s founder Victor Jacobsson, Suleman Ali of Ali Capital, Sila Money founder Shamir Karkal and Byron Ling of Canaan Partners – also pitched in.

The Bengaluru-based fintech startup is now worth more than $200 million, people familiar with the matter said. Jar itself did not comment on its valuation. The company
had raised $4.5 million in September 2021.

Founded in May 2021 by Misbah Ashraf and Nischay AG, Jar launched its gold-based savings product in June. It currently has a registered user base of 4.7 million compared to 400,000 in September. The Jar app, after a user’s nod, saves a tiny amount each time she makes a transaction, besides giving the option to invest as much as she may want. For now, the investment is in digital gold, which can be withdrawn as physical gold or liquidated.

“We have seen tremendous growth. Now, we have over 100 transactions per minute on our platform,” Nischay AG, who is also the chief executive of the firm, said. “As the habits and discipline become stronger, we see a jump of 20% in investments from users on a month-on-month basis.”

Jar will deploy the new capital to offer lending and insurance to users, he said, even as it continues to focus on improving distribution and cultivating a savings habit among users through gamification. “Overall financial literacy is very low among first-time investors and they need to be educated more and habits need to be formed. We are investing in that. Later this year, we will launch two more financial products,” Nischay said.

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“Jar is bringing new users into the online investing space, starting with digital gold as the first product,” said Alex Cook, partner at Tiger Global. “We bought into Jar’s mission of helping users build a daily savings habit, and we’re excited to partner with the team as they scale to millions of customers.”