IIFL Fintech Funds marks first exit after selling stake in TrustCheckr

IIFL Fintech Fund, IIFL Group's early-stage investment vehicle, has announced its first exit after it sold its stake in TrustCheckr, a fraud detection platform, to caller identification app Truecaller.

The Bengaluru-based fraud detection platform had secured $1 million from the fund in March 2022.

Truecaller on October 6 announced the acquisition of Unoideo Technologies, which provides fraud detection services via TrustCheckr. While Truecaller did not disclose the deal size, it said that the platform's acquisition was being financed through existing cash.

Following this, IIFL said it has delivered an 80 per cent return to its investors following its exit within 18 months of the investment.

"Our focus since inception has been on partnering with our investee companies and acting not just as investors. With TrustCheckr also, we went beyond the business aspect to enhance their overall product and platform to ensure business adoption. Attaining an 80 per cent IRR (Internal Rate of Return) and ensuring early liquidity to our investors (in less than 18 months) underscores our commitment to ensuring our investors make maximum returns," said Mehekka Oberoi, fund manager, IIFL Fintech Fund.

IIFL Fintech Fund was established in August 2021, with a corpus of Rs 210 crore and sponsorship from two group companies - IIFL Finance and IIFL Securities.

The fund said it invests in early-stage fintechs such as Trendlyne, Leegality, FinBox, DataSutram, Multipl, Finarkein, TrustCheckr, Finvu, Insurance Samadhan, and EasyRewardz.

"IIFL Fintech Fund has been instrumental in our product development and enhancing business growth strategy. They played a vital role in the fundraising and M&A process," said Adhip Ramesh, co-founder, TrustCheckr.

TrustCheckr had raised a total funding of $1.1 million as per data from market intelligence platform Tracxn. It posted $113,000 in revenue as of March 2022, according to Tracxn data.

The start-up was founded by Shivraj Harsh and Adhip Ramesh. It is used by banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and fintechs to verify customer information and detect risk of fraud based on phone numbers and digital signals.