'What Excites Me Most Is That We Are A Profitable Unicorn'

OakNorth co-founder Rishi Khosla on Indian unicorns, launching lending operations here and why the startup ecosystem in Britain is less buoyant than in India

- Rajiv Singh

What would give a startup founder the biggest kick? Would it be when the venture gets billed as the fastest unicorn (with a billion dollar valuation) in European history? Or would it be when it becomes just the third company in the United Kingdom (UK) to get a new banking licence in 150 years? For Rishi Khosla, co-founder of OakNorth, it is none of these. “What excites me the most is that we have a profitable unicorn,” he says. OakNorth, a UKbased digital banking upstart focussed on lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), was valued at $2.3 billion when it raised $100 million in September 2018. The digital lender had reached a cash flow break-even just 11 months after starting operations in September 2015, and had made over $13 million in profits in only the second full year of operations.

“Being profitable is important, but being profitable and having high growth is an interesting mix,” says Khosla, who was in India recently. India happens to be the biggest market for OakNorth in terms of headcount. Though the startup does not lend in India, it has offices in Gurugram and Bengaluru, which form the core of its global operations.

In an exclusive interview with Forbes India, Khosla talks about his India connect, Indian unicorns and the startup ecosystem in Britain. Edited excerpts:

Q You happen to be the quickest unicorn in European history, within two years of launching operations…