Exclusive: Lendingtech Startup Aye Finance’s Q1 PAT Surges 4X YoY To INR 39 Cr

Gurugram-based B2B lendingtech startup Aye Finance’s profit after tax (PAT) zoomed 4X to INR 38.67 Cr in the first quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (Q1 FY24) from INR 9.78 Cr in Q1 FY23 on the back of strong growth in its business.

Sequentially, Aye Finance’s PAT rose 1.6X from INR 23.57 Cr. 

According to the unaudited financial statements shared with Inc42, the lendingtech startup’s revenue from operations grew 1.6X to INR 220.63 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 134.86 Cr in Q1 FY23.

Interest income rose 1.6X to INR 201.64 Cr in Q1 FY24 from INR 126.31 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Meanwhile, led by the rise in finance costs, total expenses jumped 1.4X to INR 176.01 Cr from INR 127.78 Cr in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Finance costs ballooned 1.6X to INR 69.47 Cr from INR 43.12 Cr in Q1 FY23. Employee benefit expenses also increased to INR 65.49 Cr during the quarter ended June 30, 2023, from INR 49.05 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

“Our loan book has been growing and we have continued to improve the credit quality of our portfolio. This coupled with our frugal approach to managing expenses, the focus on high employee productivity, and the pervasive use of data science models to prioritise and optimise has allowed us to deliver exceptional outcomes for all our stakeholders,” the startup said in a statement.

Founded in 2014 by Sanjay Sharma and Vikram Jetley, Aye Finance offers affordable business loans to microenterprises in the country. It uses cluster-based credit assessment with AI algorithms to assess risk in the absence of traditional business documents.

According to Aye Finance, it backs microenterprises in manufacturing, services, trading, job work, and dairy segments.

The startup was on a debt funding spree, raising more than INR 550 Cr of debt in the last three months of 2022 from BlueOrchard (INR 87 Cr), Triple Jump BV and Northern Arc (INR 75 Cr), Symbiotics (INR 65 Cr) and responsAbility Investments (INR 81.2 Cr).

Aye Finance competes with the likes of ftcash, ARTH, FlexiLoans, Lendingkart, LenDenClub and Kinara Capital.

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