Online Lending Startup FlexiLoans Acquires CreditPeriod To Increase Offerings

Online lending platform FlexiLoans has acquired Mumbai-based supply chain finance startup, CreditPeriod for an undisclosed amount.

With this move, FlexiLoans attempts to strengthen its supply chain finance offering.

Post the transaction, Venkatesh Viswanathan, co-founder at CreditPeriod will join the FlexiLoans team and be responsible for management of the supply chain finance initiatives.

Founded in 2015 by Venkatesh Viswanathan, Ajinkya Kulkarni and Abhik Patel, CreditPeriod initially functioned as a B2B ecommerce platform catering to the raw material procurement needs of SMEs. Now a fintech startup, it allows SME buyers to procure goods/services on credit while ensuring that sellers get their money upfront, thereby eliminating credit risk and enabling instant liquidity.

Commenting on the acquisition, Abhishek Kothari, co-founder, FlexiLoans said “This acquisition will enable us to underwrite loans using real-time ERP integrations with SMEs to solve the credit-trust problem, thereby helping SMEs procure goods/services at significantly cheaper costs. The acquisition gives us access to technology that is custom built for supply chain financing”

FlexiLoans started operations in January 2016 and was founded by four Indian School of Business alumni, Deepak Jain, Manish Lunia, Ritesh Jain, and Abhishek Kothari.

FlexiLoans’ proprietary credit engine allows the startup to disburse a loan within 24 hours. It has already partnered with over 20 national digital marketplaces and organisations like Flipkart, Ola, ShopClues, Jabong etc. The company plans to double loan disbursal in the next one year and tap 200 cities.

In October 2016, the startup raised about $15 Mn (INR100 Cr) from Sanjay Nayar, CEO of KKR India; Vikram Sud, former Head of Operations and Technology at Citibank; Anil Jaggia, Chief Investment Officer at HDFC Bank; and Narayan Seshadri, former MD at KPMG’s advisory business.

As per an IBEF report, the fintech market in India is estimated to double to $2.4 Bn by 2020 from around $1.2 bn at present. In February 2017, Bengaluru-based online lending platform Capital Float raised about $2.5 Mn (INR 17 Cr) from IFMR Capital Finance and its alternative investment fund. Earlier this month, Pune-based fintech startup EarlySalary raised $4 Mn Series A funding from IDG Ventures India (IDGVI) and Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL).

Other startups in this segment include KountMoney, Faircent.com, LoanCircle, Capzest, etc.