A Gurgaon-based couple became India's first husband and wife to build their respective startups into enterprises with at least $1-billion valuation, also known as unicorns. Oxyzo Financial Services, a digital lending startup co-founded by Ruchi Kalra, said it hit the milestone - the 13th Indian startup to do so this year - with its maiden fund-raising round of $200 million led by Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global Management, Norwest Venture Partners and others. Less than a year ago, her husband Asish Mohapatra’s OfBusiness reached the same valuation after backing from SoftBank and others.
Kalra, 38, and Mohapatra, 41, are alums of IIT and met while working at McKinsey. Both startups are profitable, an unusual feat for young growth companies. Kalra is the CEO of Oxyzo while Mohapatra is the CEO at OfBusiness. Matrix Partners and Creation Investments also invested in Oxyzo in what is one of the largest series - A rounds in India’s startup industry.
Oxyzo was founded by Kalra, Mohapatra and three others in 2017 as an offshoot of the couple’s first startup, OfBusiness, which they started along with three others in 2016. Oxyzo uses technology to crunch data and provide purchase financing to firms, giving out cash-flow based loans. OfBusiness, formally known as OFB Tech, supplies bulk raw materials such as steel, diesel, food grains and industrial chemicals to small and medium-sized businesses.
