Indifi Raises INR 340 Cr ($45 Mn) In Equity & Debt Funding

B2B Online Lender Indifi Raises INR 340 Cr In Equity & Debt Funding

SUMMARY

The Series D equity round of INR 140 Cr was led by CX Partners and OP Finnfund, with participation from CDC Group, Omidyar Network, Flourish Ventures, Elevar Equity and Accel

It further secured INR 200 Cr debt financing from Vivriti, Northern Arc, SIDBI, among others, of which INR 35 Cr is a guaranteed note from the US International Development Finance Corporation

The startup plans to use the funds to expand its consumer base, product offerings within MSMEs and tech development

Gurugram-based B2B online lender Indifi has raised INR 340 Cr (approx $45 Mn) in a mix of equity and debt financing.

CX Partners and OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I, along with existing investors CDC Group, Omidyar Network, Flourish Ventures, Elevar Equity and Accel have invested INR 140 Cr (approx $19 Mn) in the startup’s ongoing Series D round.

The current round, which may see the participation of other global funds, brings Indifi’s total equity raised to date at INR 350 Cr. The round comes at the heels of Inc42’s exclusive report on Indifi raiding INR 53 Cr in the Series D1 equity round.

In the current round, Indifi has also secured INR 165 Cr in debt financing from Vivriti, Northern Arc, SIDBI, among others, while US International Development Finance Corporation has guaranteed INR 35 Cr to Indifi.

The startup plans to use the funds to expand its consumer base, product offerings within MSMEs and tech development.

Founded in 2016 by Alok Mittal, Siddharth Manhot and Sudeep Sahi, Indifi provides term loans, line of credit, invoice discounting, and merchant cash advance services. The loans can be customised for company cases, and its current client base is spread across travel, ecommerce, retail, restaurants and hotels. Some major names include Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, Yatra, SpiceJet, among others.

The startup claims to have disbursed more than 35K loans, served 200 clients in more than 12 industries.

Yet, the startup’s revenues have dropped, while losses went up. In FY21, Indifi reported a revenue of INR 11.3 Cr, down from INR 23 Cr in FY20. In the same period, its EBITDA loss amounted to INR 36 Cr, up from INR 32 Cr in FY20.

India’s fintech market is currently one of the fastest-growing compared to the rest of the world. Despite the first two waves of the Covid-19 pandemic that wreaked havoc across most sectors, the innovations and investors backing the fintech space have helped India maintain a cutting edge. Globally, the country has the highest fintech adoption rate at 87% against a global average of 64%.

According to Inc42 Plus estimates, the fintech startup ecosystem saw 5.8x higher capital inflow to reach $4.6 Bn funding across 160 deals in January-August 2021 period, while lending tech secured over $860 Mn, second only to digital payments startups. A BCG report also predicts that the digital lending industry will touch $1 Tn by 2023.

Competing for the large market are B2B online lenders including OfBusiness, CredAvenue, LendingKart, Capital Float, SMEcorner, ZipLoan, among others.