The banking tech firm announced that it has raised $250 million in a Series D round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, confirming a report from TechCrunch from mid-April. This year Zeta has become the 14th Indian startup to cross a $1 billion valuation.

Established in 2015, this was the first institutional investment in the company, as well as a first for Bhavin Turakhia, who has founded four companies. SoftBank's Vision Fund II was the source of the investment.

It has offices in Bangalore and Dubai that are priced at $1.45 billion in the new round. This is an increase from Zeta's second-half 2019 valuation of $300 million.

After closing its latest financial round, the banking tech firm became the newest member of the coveted unicorn group.

The company's value has increased by more than threefold as a result of SoftBank's investment.

The banking tech firm, founded by entrepreneurs Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati, provides backbone technology for credit and credit card processing, core banking, loans, mobile banking, and personal finance management.

Zeta has built a technology stack that allows it to interact with banks, fintech startups, and other online consumer platforms. The argument is that banks, which are still primarily based on outdated technology, seldom have the time or skills to provide the best service to the hundreds of millions of consumers and fintech companies they represent today.

The banking tech firm’s main product offering is aimed at retail banks, and it combines a mobile app, debit and credit processing, and lending platform without requiring any changes to current core banking structures.

Banks with licenses will provide financial services to customers using Zeta's cloud-native API and SDKs (Software Development Kits) to launch credit cards, debit cards, and loans, as well as collaborate with fintechs, to enhance customer experience.

“Banks work with tons of software suppliers, the majority of whom have discrete functions and outdated stacks that predate the internet. Zeta's omni stack provides all of the features that banks need to introduce new products that are important to today's customers”, according to the company.

“Globally, banking software is a $300 billion market. Most banks also use technology that is many generations behind their customers, negatively affecting user experience and interaction. To quote, Munish Varma, Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers, said, "Zeta's new Omni Stack would drive banking platform updates catering to the digital market, as well as developments in financial services globally".

Its customers hail from HDFC Bank, one of India's largest private sector lenders, as well as a number of others. In July 2019, the firm received an undisclosed amount of funding from Sodexo, a French employee benefits company, at a cost of $300 million, primarily as a strategic investment.

Surprisingly, Sodexo, an established participant, also took part in the funding round this year.

SoftBank Vision Fund 2's most recent investment in India is Zeta. The Japanese conglomerate is in advanced talks to invest up to $500 million in food delivery giant Swiggy and is also in talks with SaaS startup WhatFix, which minted another unicorn last month in social commerce Meesho.

“As the world shifts to real-time payments and digital financial services, the amount of transactions every day between banks and customers is expected to rise exponentially. Banks face evolving security, privacy, and data protection challenges as the world becomes increasingly digital. The industry requires new systems built on the foundations of security, privacy, scalability, and reliability. The Omni Stack from Zeta meets the need", said Ramki Gaddipati, CTO, Zeta.

Zeta became the 14th Indian unicorn this year. Its transaction was exclusively advised by Avendus Capital.