>Aspora, a fintech startup founded with offices in India and the US, has closed a $50 million Series B funding round. Sequoia and Greylock co-led the investment, with participation from Hummingbird, Quantum Light Ventures, and Y Combinator. The funding round currently values Aspora at $500 million and brings its total investment to more than $99 million. Aspora has deepened its fintech offerings to support the growing Indian diaspora. This expansion will allow them to provide additional banking, investment, and bill payment solutions.

Aspora is in the process of quickly expanding its services. It is going to be live soon in the U.S., which is one of the largest remittance corridors to India. The firm has announced plans for non-resident Indian (NRI) fixed deposit accounts. This would allow them to begin doing this by holding funds in foreign currencies. Aspora is looking to launch a bill pay platform in the future. This will enable new users in India to digitize cash payments, including services such as rent and utilities.

The company has experienced substantial growth, increasing its remittance volume sixfold, from $400 million to $2 billion in yearly processed volume. Aspora further enables customers to invest regularly in mutual funds in India.

Aspora is preparing to roll out full-stack banking accounts for NRIs, as well. These accounts often take weeks for users to be able to access, and Aspora is trying to simplify the process. According to the company, 80% of Aspora’s users are self-remitting back to their own accounts in their home countries.

"We want to use remittances as a wedge and build all the financial solutions that the diaspora needs, including banking, investing, insurance, lending in the home country, and products that help them take care of their parents," - Garg

Aspora, originally known as UpEquity, announced a $35 million Series A funding round last December. Sequoia took the lead, with significant support from Greylock, Y Combinator, Hummingbird Ventures and Global Founders Capital. This funding was previously unreported.

"Speed of execution, for me, is one of the main indicators in the early days of the future success of a company," - Luciana Lixandru

Aspora goes up against other India-based challengers, such as Abound. Aspora hopes to set itself apart by providing a totally different digital experience created specifically for NRIs.

"While multiple financial products for non-resident Indians exist, they don’t know about them because there is no digital journey for them. They possibly use the same banking app as residents, which makes it harder for them to discover products catered towards them," - Garg

Aspora has experience working with national publications such as Huffington Post and The Next Web (Ivan). The company’s commitment to developing its services corridor by corridor is endemic to the financial services industry habilitating line of business silos.