Lendingkart Bags Funding $24 Mn Debt

Fintech startup Lendingkart has bagged $24 Mn in a long-term debt funding from growth-stage debt financing platform EvolutionX Debt Capital. 

The startup will use the funds to drive growth as it looks to grow its revenue for FY23 and enable financing to a larger number of MSMEs across India. Lendingkart will continue to invest in tech capabilities and partner with financial institutions of India. 

Founded in 2014 by Harshvardhan Lunia, Lendingkart is also planning to launch new products and services including credit cards for MSMEs, personal loans for self-employed individuals and gold loans among others.

The Lendingkart group is backed by investors such as Fullerton Financial Holding (FFH), Bertelsmann, Mayfield India, Saama Capital, Sistema Asia, India Quotient, and others. To date the startup has raised around $143 Mn. 

Commenting on the development, Lunia said, “Over the years, we have built efficient and robust technology to support the underserved MSME sector. FY24 is going to be an exciting year for Lendingkart as we look to solve for newer challenges by creating industry first products and evolving our tech stack.”

The startup claims to have developed tools based on big data analysis and machine learning algorithms which facilitate lenders to evaluate borrower’s creditworthiness and provide other related services.

Lendingkart looks to make credit accessible to MSMEs pan-India using technology and alternate data-first approaches. For the same, it has developed a proprietary platform to solve the basic building blocks of MSME financing including distribution, origination, underwriting, engagement, and collections. 

Lendingkart said since its inception, it has disbursed over 2 Lakhs loans of more than INR 14,000 Cr across 4,000+ cities and reached more than 11,700 pin codes of India. 

India, being a country with a huge population and witnessing fast digitisation, is a significant target for the fintech entrepreneurs despite the funding winter gloom. According to Inc42’s State Of Indian Fintech Report Q1 2023 report, the market is estimated to reach $2.1 Tn by 2030. 

Recently, Lendinkart’s competitor Indifi Technologies bagged $35 Mn in its Series E funding to focus on developing new products to serve more the underserved segments of the MSME sector.

Earlier this month, another player in the lending business, Lentra raised $27 Mn as part of its extended Series B funding round to foray into international markets, including the US and Asia.