Lending and payments platform Slice has raised $50 million, led by existing investor Tiger Global, as part of a Series C round aimed at propping up capital and isolating itself in a difficult funding environment. It said on June 1 that its existing investors Moore Strategic Ventures and Insight Partners and new Japanese investor GMO Venture Partners also participated in the round.

Slice, which lends to subprime and new credit customers (primarily millennials) through its credit card-linked Visa card, hopes to raise around $100-150 million with a target valuation of $2-2.5 billion. However, the fintech has failed to reach planned valuations due to the current slowdown in start-up funding. The company is said to be in talks for the remainder of the Series C funding round.

In a macro environment of high oil prices, stock market volatility and high-interest rates, global venture funds have become cautious when investing, questioning unit economics and profitability are the keys to choosing investments.
Slice aims to be profitable within the next few months based on the current situation. Unlike the previous model, the company limited its excellent “Pay-in-3” interest-free feature to a small number of credit card customers to reduce their credit risk.

Slice’s “Pay-in-3” allows customers to split their repayments into three tranches with no additional fees or interest. Now, only customers with good repayment history and good credit scores can use the feature on their Visa card, which the company refers to as a “challenger card.”

However, the company allows customers to use the feature in its in-app purchases, building strong revenue-sharing partnerships with brands like Licious, Miniso, Swiggy, BigBasket and MakeMyTrip.

The move could help the company lure deals into its revenue-generating products. Additionally, the company announced on May 19 a realignment of its strategy, from only partnering with NBFCs for lending to payments apps primarily starting with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

The company became a unicorn, a private investment firm valued at $1 billion or more, in November 2021. It raised $220 million in a Series B round co-led by Tiger Global and Insight Partners at a $1 billion valuation. Founded in 2016 by IIT Kharagpur alumnus Bajaj, the company now has 12 million registered users.