SUMMARY
Vayana Network Will Use The Funds To Push Its GST Related Services
Pune-based fintech company Vayana Network has raised about $4 Mn Series A from venture capital firms IDG Ventures India and Jungle Ventures. This follows an earlier round of investment in the company by Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd (RIIHL) and a couple of other investors.
Vayana Network recently split from its parent company. This parting was created by a slump purchase of the fintech business from parent company, VPL, in May 2017.
Commenting on the latest round of funding, R N Iyer, Founder and CEO, Vayana Network, said “This funding comes at an exciting time with GST driving a digital invoicing ecosystem in India and in the backdrop of increasing velocity for trade based financing led by third party platforms globally. Our mission from day one has been to focus on designing the simplest possible process for corporate of all sizes and from different industries to avail short term financing for their buyers and suppliers. Our special focus on trade documentation has also enabled us to play an important role in GST regime. We plan on offering several value-added services for our clients to help them take advantage of the trade data.”
Vayana Network is a fintech startup that provides a digital platform for short-term trade financing. It is a third party, B2B trade financing platform. The Vayana Network financing network enables businesses and their trade partners to capture their receivable and payable trades electronically. It further allows them to finance through banks and financial institutions. Businesses can finance their payables, or factor their receivables. They can also make financing available to their counterparties. Vayana Network, in partnership with MasterCard and banks, also offers commercial card solution for payable financing.
The company has partnered with five banks and four NBFCs. It claims to have facilitated $400 Mn financing with 180 companies for their supply chain across 15 industries. The Vayana Network financing partners include Axis Bank, Federal Bank, Religare, Tata Capital among others.
“Vayana Network has built a strong leadership position in the short-term trade finance space by bringing together the suppliers, buyers and the lenders on a single platform. With its role as a GSP, Vayana is in a unique position to bring the much-needed financing to the SMEs and help them grow faster,” said TC Meenakshisundaram, MD at IDG Ventures.
The startup will use the newly raised funds to further strengthen its B2B trade financing network both in India and abroad.
IDG Ventures is a tech-focussed VC firm. In June 2017, it announced the launch of the 2017 Innovation Program (IDGVI). With this programme, IDG Ventures aims to support tech startups belonging to sectors such as consumer tech, software, healthtech, and fintech. The programme will fund startups from Seed-stage to Series A, between $0.5 Mn to $5 Mn. The upper limit on the average funding size has increased from last year’s $3 Mn to $5 Mn in 2017.
IDG Ventures currently has a portfolio of more than 65 companies, including Flipkart, Yatra, FirstCry, Newgen, Lenskart, Manthan, NestAway, Unbxd, and Uniphore. Its average ticket size ranges somewhere between $500K and $10 Mn.
