Belong, a fintech platform focused on providing financial products and services for non-resident Indians (NRIs), has raised $5 million in its seed funding round led by Elevation Capital.

Relentless Ventures and angel investors including Abhiraj Singh Bahl and Varun Khaitan (cofounders of Urban Company), Akshant Goyal (CFO, Zomato), Varun Alagh (cofounder of Mamaearth), Vineet Sethi (senior vice president at PayU), and Aditya Sharma (partner, McKinsey) also participated into the funding round.

The startup will use the fresh capital to expand its presence in geographies that have a sizable NRI presence such as the Gulf, the UK and the US. Part of the funds will also be used to obtain regulatory licenses and boost its product suite.

Belong, operated by Betafront Technologies Pvt Ltd, was founded last year by Ankur Choudhary, Ayush Singh, Sai Sankar M. All the co-founders have formerly worked at Niyo, a fintech company, which is backed by institutional investors such as private equity firm Multiples, Accel and Lightrock India.

Belong, which seeks to simplify cross-border finances for NRIs, has already launched a USD fixed deposit product developed in partnership with Indian banks operating at GIFT City. It also plans to launch mutual funds, Indian and US equities, insurance, and financial cards, all structured under GIFT City's regulatory framework.

Last month, Aspora, a cross-border payment startup that aims to serve the diaspora community, attracted $53 billion in its Series B funding round co-led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners.

Earlier in February, another cross-border payments startup Dodo Payments bagged $1.1 million in pre-seed funding led by Antler, 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts.