IndiaLends, a Delhi-based finance technology startup, has raised Rs. 6.5 crore in funding from existing investor DSG Consumer Partners, along with the participation of angel investors, including Siddharth Parekh and Gautham Radhakrishnan.
This newly raised funding is speculated to be a bridge funding. With new cash coming, the company is planning to expand its operations, further enhance its technology platform and add to its product portfolio. The company claims to have underwritten about 8,000 applications and has disbursed about Rs. 3 crore.
Founded earlier this year by Gaurav Chopra and Mayank Kachhwaha, with a vision to improve credit scoring techniques in the country and help more people get access to organized credit at better interest rates. It is currently operating in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.
Gaurav Chopra, alumnus of London Business School and St. Stephen’s College, and Mayank Kachhwaha, alumnus of IIT Madras, conceptualized the idea of IndiaLends while they were working together in Capital One in London.
It is a credit underwriting and analytics platform that uses proprietary algorithms to evaluate borrower’s creditworthiness and offers them instant credit products. It analyses bank statements, consumer behaviour, utility payments and other digitally available data to customize the product offerings.
There is an unorganized lending market in India and organized lending is available only to few with high CIBIL scores. The remaining borrowers are at the mercy of unorganized lenders and loan sharks, and end up paying high interest rates.
IndiaLends aims to change that and help both borrowers and lenders make better credit decisions. The biggest differentiator of IndiaLends is that they are not balance sheet lender as they do not take credit risk.
The funding comes days after former India head of Canaan Partners – Alok Mittal launched his new startup, named Indifi, an online platform connecting small businesses with formal lending institutions and also raised funding from Accel Partners and Elevar Equity.
In this space, Bangalore-based online lending platform – Capital Float raised $13 million in its Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital and SAIF Partners.
