Fintech start-up, Lendingkart Technologies Private Ltd, has raised another fresh equity round of ₹21 crore from existing investor Sistema Asia Fund (SAF) as a part of its ongoing Series D fund raise. The funds will be used to expand the lending base, build technology and strengthen analytics capabilities
This round comes five days after Lendingkart announced a fresh equity fund raise of ₹212 crore ($30 million) led by existing investors including Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd, Bertelsmann India Investments and India Quotient. With this new funding round, the total equity raised by Lendingkart stands at $146 million.
“The latest funding round from existing partners have signalled a strong support and trust in Lendingkart’s vision of financial inclusion and digital accessibility for everyone. Sistema is one of our valued partners and we are happy to join hands for the growth trajectory we have laid out for ourselves. Our Series D fund raise is still work in progress as we expect to mop up much more funds in the future,” Harshvardhan Lunia, Co-founder and Managing Director of Lendingkart Technologies, told
Since its inception, Lendingkart Finance,the NBFC arm of Lendingkart Group) has evaluated nearly half a million applications, disbursing 60,000 plus loans to more than 55,000 MSMEs in 1,300 cities across India. Its average loan size is ₹5 lakh and its NPA stands at 3.5 per cent.
“This is the third time we are investing in Lendingkart which is one of the stars in our portfolio and is well on its path to become a unicorn. We have invested close to $10 million in Lendingkart which is addressing the massive gap in MSME lending, a segment that banks are not structured to service” said Dhruv Kapoor, Partner, Sistema Asia Capital.
Aligned with the Government of India’s agenda of building financial inclusion, Lendingkart Finance works towards ensuring availability of credit for small and micro enterprises across the country that either do not have access to credit or are capital deficient currently. The start-up leverages in-house technology tools based on big data analytics and machine learning algorithms to evaluate creditworthiness. By analysing thousands of data points to assess factors like financial health, comparative market performance, social reliability, compliance and a robust evaluation process, which accepts only 25 per cent of applications, Lendingkart aims to disburse loans with minimal paperwork within 72 hours.