The Mumbai-based startup has also raised venture debt of Rs 23 crore from Innoven Capital and Alteria Capital.
Founded by Aditya Gupta, Sandeep Ghule, Anand Kapadia, and Manish Sinha in 2024, the fintech offers credit cards backed by fixed deposits, allowing users without a credit history or income proof to access credit. Its RuPay-based cards are linked to UPI, enabling customers to make payments while building a credit profile, as per a company statement.
“India is a credit-hungry market, yet less than 5% of Indians have credit cards, far behind 30 to 40% in developing markets and 60 to 70% in developed economies, leaving a large aspirational middle-income segment underserved,” said Gupta.
The funding will be used to scale the company’s customer base from one lakh to 50 lakh over the next three years, while continuing to strengthen its distribution platform, Gupta added.
In under a year of launch, Novio has more than a lakh active cardholders, around 85% of whom transact monthly, the company said. On average, customers make 18 purchases per month, indicating strong engagement.
The company primarily caters to young, first-time credit users, including salaried individuals, freelancers, and small business owners, particularly across tier II and smaller towns. Nearly 65% of its users come from tier III towns and beyond, where access to traditional credit cards remains limited.
