Exclusive: B2B Online Lender Indifi Bags INR 53 Cr In Fresh Round Of Funding

Online lending platform Indifi is raising INR 53 Cr ($7.3 Mn) in a fresh round of funding. As per the filings accessed by Inc42, Indifi will be allotting 35,61,830 compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) to its existing equity shareholders. The startup is calling it a Series D1 round, arguably a bridge round before it goes on to raise Series D round. Indifi has proposed each Series D1 CCPS to be issued at a face value of INR 20 and at premium of INR 128.8.  Indifi’s existing investors include Accel Partners, Elevar Equity, Omidyar Network, CDC Group, Rajan Anandan, and others. Indifi chose not to comment on the development.

The Gurugram-based B2B lender Indifi was founded by angel investor and venture capital firm Canaan Partners’ former India chief Alok Mittal along with Siddharth Manhot and Sudeep Sahi in 2016. While Manhot has formerly worked with companies like Indiabulls Housing Finance, Edelweiss Financial Services and Citibank; Sahi was earlier with a mobile internet company called IgniteWorld, a joint venture between Yahoo Japan, Bharti and SoftBank.

Indifi provides term loan, line of credit, invoice discounting, and merchant cash advance services customised for the companies in travel, e-commerce, retail, restaurants and hotels. The startup partners with various businesses including banks, NBFC, ecommerce platform, and others. Few of the major businesses it has partnered with include — Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, Yatra, SpiceJet and others. The startup claims to have disbursed more than 35K loans, served 200 clients in more than 12 industries.

Earlier this year, Indifi raised INR 35 Cr in debt financing from IndusInd Bank with a guarantee from US International Development Finance Corporation. The said funds were allotted to Riviera Investors Private Ltd, an inhouse NBFC subsidiary of Indifi.  Indifi closed its Series C round worth INR 145 Cr ($21 Mn) in 2019. The investment round then was  by the CDC Group along with active participation from existing investors such as Accel India, Omidyar Network, Fair Finance Fund, and Elevar Equity. The investment was said to be used by the startup to diversify into new verticals, develop technology and data infrastructure for future growth, and expand its service offerings to its customers.

The startup in 2016 bagged $10 Mn in its Series B round led by Omidyar Network along with its existing investors, while it raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Accel Partners and Elevar Equity, a day after its official launch on September 30, 2015. Indifi has also partnered with Indian Angel Network (IAN) to launch a Growth Stage Debt Fund to help IAN portfolio companies get working capital. Last week, Facebook partnered with Indifi to offer loans to the country’s small businesses.  Indifi competes against the likes of Kreditbee, Sachin Bansal-led Navi, Lendingkart, Rupteek, and others. 

Digital lending is considered to be one of the fastest growing segments in the fintech industry. According to a statista report, India’s market of digital lending grew from $9 bn in 2012 to $150 Bn in 2020. The report further estimates that COVID19 outbreak which resulted in people losing  jobs and closing businesses has resulted in individual and small businesses to approach online lenders rather than traditional banks because of poor credit scores. This trend is likely to push the digital lending market to touch $350 Bn by 2023.