Fintech startup Zenda (formerly Nexopay) has raised $9.4 million in a seed funding round from Saudi Arabia-based venture capital fund STV, seed-stage venture fund Cotu Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and VentureSouq.
The startup plans to use the funds for product development and market expansion in India.
Zenda was founded in June 2021 by Raman Thiagarajan and Haseeb Ahmed, alumni of McKinsey & Company. Thiagarajan and Ahmed had previously founded edtech startup Nexsquare in Dubai.
After its launch in the United Arab Emirates, Zenda began operations in India in 2021. It presently has more than 40 employees, around 30 of which are in India, operating out of Bengaluru, Kochi, and Delhi.
The fintech startup help families pay school fees with pay-now and pay-later options and unlock reward points for paying on time.
The startup said it has processed fee payments of $70 billion annually to private educational institutions in India, $37 billion in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and $34 billion in the rest of the Middle East and Africa. “The market is sizable yet largely untapped,” the startup said in a statement.
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