Open Financial Technologies
Digital business banking and payments platform for Indian SMEs.
On the record
Checkpoint: FY26 financial filings, which will show whether losses keep shrinking toward profitability
The call
Open holds real regulatory and integration access that keeps rivals out, but it is still losing more than three times what it earns with no new funding round confirmed since 2022.
Open Financial builds software that helps small companies manage their bank accounts, invoices, and taxes by connecting to Indian banks. The company has earned real licenses from India's central bank and signed deals with 40+ banks, which makes it harder for new startups or plain AI chatbots to just copy the idea and launch tomorrow. But Open is spending three and a half dollars for every dollar it brings in, has lost roughly as much money in total as it has ever raised, and its team has shrunk in half since 2023. The bigger banks that partner with Open, like HDFC and ICICI, could also build the same features themselves, and meanwhile artificial intelligence is getting better at doing the exact accounting and paperwork tasks that Open sells. If Open can stop its losses bleeding and raise new money in the next 12 months, it survives; if not, the cash runs out.
Why
01
AI pressure: Generic agentic AI tools for reconciliation, AR/AP, GST filing, and cash-flow forecasting. AI agents are starting to automate the same finance-ops tasks Open charges SMEs to handle manually. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank (Open's own partner banks) and Razorpay X. The banks that give Open its regulatory access also run their own SME digital banking products, and Razorpay X competes head on. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. RBI payment aggregator license plus 40+ live bank integrations that a new entrant or AI wrapper cannot get overnight.
What would change this call
FY26 filings due ~Sept 2026 show narrowed net loss or confirmed profitability glide path. Would show whether the financial precarity is stabilizing or worsening.
A priced funding round at or above the 2022 $1B valuation gets confirmed by a fintech-native investor. Would show investor confidence is intact despite 4+ years without a new raise.
Independent confirmation that BankingStack replaced Backbase or Finastra at three Indian banks. Would show the enterprise moat is real rather than vendor-claimed.
A priced funding round at or above the 2022 $1B valuation gets confirmed by a fintech-native investor. Would show investor confidence is intact despite 4+ years without a new raise.
Independent confirmation that BankingStack replaced Backbase or Finastra at three Indian banks. Would show the enterprise moat is real rather than vendor-claimed.
Key numbers
- FY25 operating revenue rose 85% to Rs45.9 Cr
- FY25 net loss fell 35% to Rs108.9 Cr
- Rs3.5 spent for every Re1 earned in FY25
Named risks
- Cumulative losses roughly equal total funding raised, no confirmed capital raise in 4+ years.
- Core reconciliation, AR/AP and forecasting workflows are directly targeted by agentic AI tools.
- Missed CEO's own end-2025 profitability target, still posting net losses in FY25.
- Headcount down 48% since 2023, signaling ongoing restructuring pressure.
- Partner banks act simultaneously as customers and competitors, could build equivalents in-house.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Razorpay X | losing to | Named direct competition for MSMEs, larger and better funded (2024-09-22) |
| HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank | contesting | Partner banks that buy Open's BankingStack while directly competing for same SME accounts |
| Jupiter, Fi Money, Niyo | contesting | Peer neobanks sharing same partner-bank dependency, no own license (2025-10-15) |
Questions people ask
- Is Open Financial Technologies profitable in 2026?
- No. Open's FY25 net loss was Rs 108.9 Cr (about $13M) even as revenue from operations grew 85% to Rs 45.9 Cr, per filings reported October 15, 2025. CEO Anish Achuthan had targeted profitability by end of 2025, a target the company missed; next checkpoint is FY26 filings due around September 2026.
- Who is Open Money's biggest competitor?
- Razorpay X is named by Moneycontrol (September 22, 2024) as Open's direct competition for MSME banking, and it is larger and better funded. Open also competes with the same partner banks, HDFC, ICICI and Axis, that it sells enterprise BankingStack software to.
- Could AI replace what Open Financial Technologies does?
- Open's core workflows, reconciliation, AR/AP, GST filing and cash-flow forecasting, are exactly what agentic AI targets, and Open itself pivoted to marketing 'AI-native' agents for these tasks. About 56% of 2026 fintech layoff events cite AI/automation as a driver, per an industry tracker dated May 28, 2026.
- Who owns Open Financial Technologies?
- It is privately held and venture-backed, not publicly listed. Investors from its May 2022 Series D ($50M at a roughly $1B valuation, making it India's 100th unicorn) include IIFL Finance, Temasek, Tiger Global and 3one4 Capital. No new priced funding round has been confirmed since that 2022 raise.
- Has Open raised new funding recently?
- No independently confirmed round since the May 2022 Series D ($50M at ~$1B valuation). Open's own press page references a July 2025 TechCrunch story about a raise to extend 'AI-native corporate banking globally,' but this claim could not be independently corroborated as of March 9, 2026.
- How much money has Open Financial Technologies lost?
- Cumulative losses reached roughly Rs 1,831 Cr (about $220M) by FY24, per Moneycontrol dated September 22, 2024, a figure roughly equal to the company's total funding raised. FY25 net loss alone was Rs 108.9 Cr, reported October 15, 2025.
Timeline
- 2026-06-29Revelio Labs reports headcount at 489, down 48% from 2023 peak
- 2025-10-15FY25 results: Rs 45.9 Cr ops revenue, Rs 108.9 Cr net loss, Rs 3.5 spent per Re 1 earned
- 2025-03-29Open acquires neobanking startup Finin for about $10M to strengthen BankingStack
- 2024-09-22FY24 results: revenue Rs 24.81 Cr, net loss Rs 170 Cr, cumulative losses Rs 1,831 Cr
- 2024-05-06Open obtains RBI Payment Aggregator/Payment Gateway final approval
- 2023-04-20Open lays off 47 employees; all four co-founders take 50% pay cut
- 2022-05-01Open raises $50M Series D, becomes India's 100th unicorn at ~$1B valuation
- 2021-10-13Series C raises about $100M at ~$500M valuation
- 2019-06Series B raises about $30M (Rs 210 Cr) led by Tiger Global
- 2017Open founded by Anish Achuthan, Ajeesh Achuthan, Mabel Chacko, Deena Jacob
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Behind Building India's 100th Unicorn Open (2025-10-03)
- SME neobank Open bags $50m, becomes India's 100th unicorn (2025-03-29)
- Open, An Indian Neobank For SMEs, Raises $100M At A $500M Valuation (2021-10-13)
- Fintech Startup Open Raises Rs 210 Cr In Series B Round
- Open Financial Technologies Stock Price, Funding, Valuation...
- Press & Newsroom · Open (2026-03-09)
- Neobank Open's FY24 revenue drops to Rs 25 Cr (2024-09-22)
- Moneycontrol: Neobank Open reduces losses to Rs 170 crore in FY24 (2024-09-22)
- Neobank OPEN Spent INR 3.5 To Earn Every Rupee In FY25 (2025-10-15)
- Open, AI-Native Corporate Internet Banking
- Connected banking is key to distribution network, says Open CEO (2024-02-28)
- India's Open buys neobanking start-up Finin in $10m deal (2025-03-29)