Lending Startup Progcap Raises $5 Mn In Series A Funding Round Led By Sequoia

Delhi-based lending startup Progcap has raised $5 Mn in its Series A funding round. The investment was led by Sequoia India, with participation from MV Nair, chairman of CIBIL; Sandeep Tandon, cofounder of Freecharge along with existing investors GrowX Ventures Fund and Yes Bank’s cofounder Somak Ghosh.

Prior to this round, Progcap raised $1 Mn in seed funding round led by GrowX ventures. The funds were to be used to build a platform that will target over 20 Mn retailers in India who are yet to become part of the country’s formal financing system.

Progcap cofounder Pallavi Shrivastava said that the fresh funds will be used towards operations, building technological differentiation, and to accelerate the pace of its pan-India expansion.

Founded in 2017 by Pallavi Shrivastava and Himanshu Chandra, Progcap facilitates debt capital for underserved micro and small businesses in India. The venture leverages its innovative Last Mile Retailer Finance solution to enable access to collateral-free loans to retailers. The lending platform risk models these businesses using non-traditional ecosystem data, creating credit scores for customers that are currently left out by the traditional financial institutions.

Ashish Agrawal, principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors, said, ”India has multi-layered distribution chains where credit is an important enabler. Currently, only large distributors are able to get access to inventory financing through banks and other formal channels. With a well-designed product, Progcap is able to extend credit to smaller sub-dealers and retailers.”

The company’s website shows that it is present in over 500 towns enabling over 50K retailers and has more than 100 cr business volume facilitation.

Manu Rikhye, Partner, GrowX Ventures Fund said, “We are very excited with progress at Progcap. In a short period of time, Progcap has created a niche for itself by facilitating seamless access to credit for the retail segment. The product today is helping retailers improve their sales and drive growth for the brands. We look forward to being a part of Himanshu and Pallavi’s journey as they continue to build their outstanding business.”

DataLabs by Inc42 said that between 2015 and Q1 2019, the total investment in Indian fintech startups was $7.62 Bn with a total deal count of 478. Out of the total funding, 25.49% ($1.94 Bn) investment came in lending tech startups.

Some of the leading lending startups include Indifi, Kissht, StashFin, Ftcash etc.

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