Lendingkart Finance Raises $43.7 Mn In Debt Funding, To Offer Loans Worth $291 Mn To MSMEs In FY19

Lendingkart Finance, the NBFC arm of Lendingkart Group, today (August 1) announced that it has raised $43.7 Mn (INR 300 Cr) in non-convertible debentures from Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC along with another entity. Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC has invested $21.8 Mn (INR 150 Cr) in the company.

Founded in 2014 by ex-banker Harshvardhan Lunia and former ISRO scientist Mukul Sachan, Lendingkart is an instant working capital finance platform that provides SMEs with easy access to credit and working capital.

“The freshly raised amount will be used towards growing our loan book and financing more MSMEs. As we expand our reach to over 1,200 cities across India, these funds will be used to widen our offerings to MSMEs country-wide,” Lunia said in a media statement.

This is said to be the biggest debt funding round for the company so far. Lendingkart Finance also raised INR 30 Cr in non-convertible debentures from Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden NV (FMO) in January 2018.

Previous funding rounds raised by the Lendingkart Group:

• February 2018: More than $87 Mn in an equity funding round as part of its Series C round
• December 2017: Raised $3.8 Mn in debt funding from Indian public sector bank SBI
• September 2017: Secured $10.9 Mn (INR 70 Cr) funding from Sistema Asia Fund as well as existing investors Bertelsmann India Investment, Mayfield India, Saama Capital, and others

Lunia claimed that Lendingkart Finance has disbursed over 28,000 loans to more than 21,000 MSMEs across 26 diverse sectors till date.

The startup used thousands of data points to assess factors such as the financial health, comparative market performance, social reliability, and compliance of its MSME borrowers. Once the evaluation process is complete, most successful loan applicants receive their loans within 72 hours. Lendingkart has expanded its operations pan India and offers quick and easy loans with minimal paperwork.

The average ticket size of loans disbursed is INR 5-6 Lakh.

Lendingkart aims to disburse 30,000 loans in FY18-19, totalling $291.8 Mn (INR 2,000 Cr). It expects 20,000 new MSMEs to be added to its platform in the ongoing fiscal.

[The development was reported by ET.]

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