Indian challenger Open buys Optobizz, banks another 800,000 SMEs
Indian digital banking challenger Open has acquired Optobizz, a goods and services tax (GST) automation startup, for $5 million.
The stock and cash deal will see Open add 800,000 million small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers. That brings the start-up’s SME customer total to 1.8 million.
By the end of this year, Open wants to turn 1.8 million into 5 million customers
Open, whose banking is powered by Indian incumbent ICICI, claims to already process $24 billion in SME transactions annually.
Optobizz will underpin Open’s plans to launch a digital banking platform for some one million tax practitioners and accountants in India.
This would see accountants offer Open’s banking services – integrated with tax and accounting services – to their clients. The deal will also help Open’s SME customers “solve the major hassle of tax filing,” co-founder and CEO, Anish Achuthan, tells Economic Times of India.
He adds that Open is currently onboarding 50,000 businesses each month. By the end of this year, it wants to turn 1.8 million into 5 million customers. It also wants to set up a development centre in Hyderabad.
The Bangalore-based start-up banked $30 million back in June 2019. The just two-years-old, the fintech garnered fresh interest from the likes of Tiger Global and Tanglin Venture Partners Advisors.
Valued at $150 million following the round according to a TechCrunch source, the fintech has since likely upped this value considerably.
Founded in 2017, Open only began monetising late last year and already sits at a $3 million ARR.
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