Group payments platform goDutch, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $1.7 million in seed funding. Matrix Partners India led the round with participation from Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Soma Capital, VentureSouq and marquee angel investors such as Justin Mateen (Co-founder, Tinder), Kevin Lin (Co-founder, Twitch), Rohan Angrish (Head, ICICI Labs) and Sumon Sadhu.
Founded by IIT Bombay graduates Aniruddh Singh, Riyaz Khan and Sagar Sheth, the goDutch app allows users to record, split and automatically settle group transactions such as rent payments, travel, shopping, dine out, home delivery, etc. Group payments currently is a multi-step process for most users with a high social barrier. Most young adults who use current transaction tracking apps struggle to settle the accounts and often receivables increase rapidly. goDutch aims to streamline and solve for this. The goDutch card, issued in partnership with CSB Bank, enables real-time splitting of group payments at any online or offline merchant. While users can get the free virtual card instantly by signing up on the app, the physical cards can be ordered through the app in the coming weeks.
The startup is targeting 50 million Indians across Tier 1 & 2 cities that make up $75 billion worth of group transactions annually.
Sagar Sheth, Co-founder and CEO, goDutch said, “As young millennials, a large part of our lives are spent with different groups such as flatmates, office colleagues and friends we go out with. We’ve built goDutch so that you can truly enjoy your group experiences and create amazing memories without stressing over how to manage the group expenses.”
“Our group experiences are affected by awkward hassles in settling expenses with our friends. We tackle this intricate social problem in one swipe of the goDutch card and provide our customers with a quick & effortless experience in these tricky situations,” said Aniruddh Singh, Co-founder and COO, goDutch.
While many existing apps allow recording of group transactions, none of those enable seamless peer-to-peer settlements or real-time splitting, commented Rajat Agarwal, Director at Matrix India, adding, “It’s a real pain point for young adults and if solved well, the product has the potential to grow virally. We believe that group payments can also be an exciting entry point to ultimately target group commerce and bring it online. We are thrilled to partner with the goDutch team as they reimagine this space and provide a truly 21st century experience.”