Fintech Startup NIRA Raises $1 Mn From India & UK-Based Angel Investors

Bengaluru-based fintech startup NIRA has reportedly closed its seed funding round after raising $1 Mn from angel investors based in India and UK.

NIRA which was founded in 2017 by Rohit Sen and Nupur Gupta, is an instant digital lending  platform that provides small value loans to its users with limited access to the traditional modes of finance.

At present, NIRA has partnered with Federal Bank, which allows its users to credit loans upto $1.3K (INR 1 Lakh) for a year using the mobile application of the website.

In order to get loan from NIRA, one has to be an Indian citizen with a college degree. They will also have be working for at least six months and earn as much as 20K a month.

The startup plans to use the funding to expand its core team, develop its technology and boost the growth of the startup.

An email sent to the company did not elicit any response till the time of publication.

An Overview Of Digital Lending Platforms In India

According to a July 2018 report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the Indian digital lending space will increase from $52.6 Bn (INR 3.9 Tn) in 2018 to $323.9 Bn (INR 24 Tn) in 2023

Further,the Inc42 DataLabs Indian Startup Funding report 2017 also stated that  the Indian fintech industry received $3.01 Bn across 111 deals in 2017.

Here are some other fundings that happened in the digital lending space recently:

• Earlier this month, a Delhi based digital lending startup, RevFin raised an undisclosed amount in the seed funding round from angel investors
• In September, Bengaluru-based lending platform Qubera raised $3 Mn funding from Mumbai-based investor E-City Ventures
• Datasigns Technologies owned Shubh Loans raised $4.2 Mn from  Saama Capital.
• In March, Bengaluru based SmartCoin raised $2 Mn in a Pre-Series A round led by a China-based venture fund
• Bengaluru-based ZestMoney raised $13.4 Mn in extended Series A round of funding from Xiaomi.

Some of the other notable players in the micro-lending space include KrazyBee, Buddy, Onemi, Finomena, Quicklo among many others.

[The development was reported by ET]

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