Exclusive: Aye Finance Bags $10 Mn In Debt From Catalyst Trusteeship

Gurugram-based financial services startup Aye Finance has raised INR 77 Cr ($10 Mn) in debt from Catalyst Trusteeship Limited through its AAV Sarl and Masala Investment Sarl.

According to the ministry of corporate affairs filings assessed by Inc42, Aye Finance has allocated 3,85,875 debenture each worth INR 38.58 Cr to AAV Sarl and Masala Investment Sarl, leading up to INR 17.17 Cr.

Prior to this round, the company had raised INR 125 Cr in debt from Germany-based impact investor Invest in Vision, back in July 2020  to lend to the disadvantageous micro-enterprise sector and facilitate job creation and their inclusion into the folds of organised lending.

Founded by Sanjay Sharma and Vikram Jetley in 2014, Aye Finance caters to unbanked micro-enterprises of India by offering B2B loans. The company is currently offering its services in 14 states and plans to expand into Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the coming years. The company has over 173 branches and 2,900 employees.

So far, it has disbursed 2 Lakh loans amounting to INR 2700 Cr to nearly 196K small scale businesses in the country. In the financial year 2020, the company doubled its revenues and increased its loan book from 1,047 Cr to 1,800 Cr, the company’s cofounder and managing director Sharma said.

It’s revenue also grew from  INR 210 Cr to INR 415 Cr, along with a marginal growth in profits from INR 35 Cr in FY19 to INR 40 Cr in FY20. As far as expenditures are concerned, the company spent on making its tech processes efficient and on employee benefits, Sharma added.

Aye Finance reached profitability in FY2018 with INR 82.23 Cr in revenue and INR 79.93 Cr in expenses, leading to a profit of INR 2.30 Cr. In FY2017, it had reported a loss of INR 7.19 Cr.

Aye Finance has raised about $261.7 Mn to date in a mix of debt and equity. The lender is equity funded by CapitalG, SAIF Partners, Falcon Edge, LGT, A91 Partners, and MAJ Invest, and has debt lines from FMO, BlueOrchard, responsAbility, SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC and many others. The company was valued at INR 1,700 Cr ($224 Mn) in a INR 210 Cr ($27 Mn) in Series E funding round from existing investors in June 2020.

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