Zeta becomes a unicorn with $250 million SoftBank-led funding

Zeta, a startup that helps banks and fintech firms launch products, is the newest to attain the coveted unicorn status after closing a financing round.

The banking tech firm, co-founded by veteran Indian entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia, said on Monday it has raised $250 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, confirming a TechCrunch report from mid-April. Existing investor Sodexo also participated in the round.

The new round valued the startup, which has offices in Bangalore and Dubai, at $1.45 billion. That’s up from the $300 million valuation that Zeta reported in the second half of 2019.

Zeta has developed a technology stack that helps it engage with both banks, fintech startups, as well as other online consumer platforms. The thesis is that banks — largely operating on antiquated technologies — today don’t have the time and expertise to offer the best experience to hundreds of millions of customers and fintech firms they serve.

“Banks are still stuck in the ’80s. Many of them still use COBOL programming language. They offer poor user experience,” said Turakhia in a press briefing Monday, adding that to make up for it, banks end up working with dozens of vendor and technology partners. “Nobody thought of building the bank stack from the ground up. Until now.”

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