New Delhi, March 23: A couple became the country's first husband and wife to build their respective startups into unicorns, enterprises with valuation of at least $1 billion.

Ruchi Kalra who co-founded Oxyzo Financial Services, a digital lending startup said on Wednesday that it hit the milestone with its maiden fundraising round of $200 million led by Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global Management, Norwest Venture Partners and others. Her husband Asish Mohapatra's OfBusiness attained the status of Unicorn after backing from SoftBank Group Corp. and others last year.

Both Ms Kalra, 38 and Mr Mohapatra, 41, are alums of Indian Institute of Technology and met while working at McKinsey & Co. Both startups are profitable, an unusual feat for young growth companies.  Apple Partner Unicorn Plans to Set Up 75 Stores in North, West India

Ruchi Kalra is the chief executive officer of Oxyzo while Asish Mohapatra is CEO at OfBusiness. Kalra together with husband Asish Mohapatra, makes a rare couple behind the making of two unicorns.  Waggle Network Is a Cross-Chain Protocol That Unlocks Liquidity for Post-IDO Tokens

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, a blend of the words oxygen and ozone, was founded by Ms Kalra, Mr Mohapatra and three others in 2017 as an offshoot of the couple's first startup, OfBusiness, which they started along with three others in early 2016.

Oxyzo started as the lending platform of OfBusiness, providing cash flow and matched working capital financing for buying new materials for SMEs in sectors such as manufacturing and sub-contracting.

It diversified its product suite and widened the customer base to include SMEs, mid-corporates, as well as new-economy companies. It has assets under management of $350 million and says it has been profitable since inception.

OfBusiness, formally known as OFB Tech Pvt., supplies bulk raw materials such as steel, diesel, food grains and industrial chemicals to small and medium-sized businesses. Bloomberg quoted Asish Mohapatra as saying that valuation of OfBusiness surpassed $1 billion when SoftBank and others invested in April last year.

The two startups run separately with different offices and teams, Ms Kalra said. However, they target the same industries such as manufacturing and infrastructure sub-contracting. Both are based in Gurgaon.

Oxyzo says it has more than 500 employees and a data warehouse specializing in supply chain analytics. It claims of having disbursed over $2 billion in loans and has been profitable since its inception.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2022 06:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).