RupeeRedee’s NBFC Arm FincFriends Bags $7.8 Mn In Debt & Equity

Digital lending platform RupeeRedee’s NBFC arm FincFriends has raised $7.8 Mn, in a mix of debt and equity, in a strategic round led by InCred Finance and Grow Money Capital. 

While the lead investors infused $3 Mn in debt funding, the rest was raised in equity ($2 Mn) and debt ($2.8 Mn) from existing investor APV Management. 

The fresh proceeds will be utilised to shore up the startup’s growth and product portfolio. A chunk of the capital will also be deployed to scale up operations in emerging markets, ramp up customer base and “amplify” the NBFC’s credit portfolio.

 “… As we focus on expanding our credit offerings, we are looking forward to leveraging this opportunity to create high value for our customers and stakeholders alike,” said RupeeRedee CEO Roman Aznabaev.

Chiming in, head of financial institution lending at InCred Finance, Mohit Gandhi, said, “… Through this partnership, we actively support FincFriends’ mission of delivering socially responsible funding to underserved populations in India. Together, we are committed to shaping a more financially inclusive future”.

Founded in 2017, FincFriends is a non-banking finance company (NBFC) that offers financing solutions and loans to customers digitally. It is the captive arm of RupeeRedee, which offers instant short-term personal digital loans to  underserved customers.

The NBFC last secured an equity funding of $3.5 Mn from Cyprus-based Digital Finance International (DFI) last year.

The funding round comes at a time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened its checks on the mushrooming digital lending ecosystem in the country. Last year in December, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Parliament that tech giant Google delisted more than 2,500 fraudulent digital lending apps from Play Store between April 2021 and July 2022.

Notwithstanding this , the digital lending space continues to be an attractive proposition for both entrepreneurs and investors alike. Just last week, Ashneer Grover unveiled his new healthcare-focussed lending platform ZeroPe to offer loans to customers for medical emergencies.

According to Inc42’s State Of Indian Fintech Report Q4 2023, homegrown lending tech startups secured $141 Mn across eight deals in Q4 2023. The segment is projected to corner a majority ($1.3 Tn+) of the total $2.1 Tn Indian fintech market opportunity by 2030.