Bengaluru, May 24 (IANS): Credit and payment startup slice on Monday said it raised a cumulative debt of Rs 165 crore in pandemic-hit financial year 2021 from 18 leading financial institutions.

Out of the total, the company raised Rs 126 crore in the last five months of FY21.

The financial institutions include Northern Arc Capital Limited, Vivriti Capital Private Limited, AU Small Finance Bank, Incred Financial Services Limited, Pace Fincap Private Limited, Western Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd, and Innoven Capital India Pvt Ltd among others, the fintech startup said in a statement.

"The number of institutions investing in us has grown significantly in FY21 alone, a validation of our strategy of keeping the lowest NPAs in the industry," said Rajan Bajaj, Founder and CEO, slice.

slice said it has over 300,000 members and 900,000 on waitlist today, 70 per cent of them being young working professionals.

The company has processed a transaction volume of over $250 million and plans to achieve a GTV run rate of $1 billion in FY22.

slice said it now plans to grow its member base by more than 3 times to 1 miilion in the next 12 months.

Despite the pandemic, the company grew by 125 per cent in 2020 and has recorded a 40-50 per cent increase in average customer spends.

Founded in 2016, the company said it also plans to double its employee strength in 2021 with a major focus on tech, product and design.