Online lending marketplace KountMoney gets seed funding

Finectar Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs online lending marketplace KountMoney, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Suashish Diamonds Ltd's CMD Ashish Goenka and other investors through angel network Tracxn Syndicate.

The startup will use the money raised to expand operations and strengthen its technology team, a company statement said.

"By using data analytics and machine learning algorithms, KountMoney can help financial institutions take better lending decisions thus reducing their overall cost. This will help borrowers to secure loans faster," Abhishek Periwal, co-founder, KountMoney, said.

Periwal added that KountMoney's focus is to organise the segment and bridge the gap between lenders and borrowers with the help of technology and data analysis.

"The fin-tech space is a very fast growing market, and is one where execution plays a very important role. I trust that KountMoney has the expertise to ensure the right level of execution," said Ashish Goenka, chairman and managing director of Suashish Group of Companies.

Founded in September 2015 by Deepak Modak and Abhishek Periwal, KountMoney connects borrowers and lenders, besides vetting loan applications with its algorithm and then forwarding them to suitable lenders on the network who take the final call. It also helps borrowers in choosing lenders and submitting the documents.

KountMoney currently facilitates only unsecured loans in the range of Rs50,000-25 lakh. It plans to focus more on small-ticket loans of Rs10,000-50,000.

The loan market is growing at 20 per cent per annum, and is expected to touch Rs 21 lakh crore by 2016. Out of this, the share of the unsecured loan segment stands at around 20 per cent, according to Periwal.

KountMoney aims to process 1000 loan applications per month and ensure 300 loan approvals per month on its platform by mid-2016. KountMoney claims to have received close to 200 loan applications since it went live in October with 35 loan applications approved till date, said Periwal.

Currently, KountMoney has five registered loan vendors on its platform. It plans to have 12-15 loan vendors on board as part of its near-term target.

Kountmoney will compete with the likes of IndiaLends. Loanbaba, an online portal that allows users to compare and apply for financial products such as home loans, personal loans and car loans, will also be a competitor.

The financial technology space has become a preferred one for venture capital and early stage investments in the country. There is heightened interest in this sector as several startups are using technology to disrupt the current systems of lending, borrowing, personal finance and financial inclusion in the country.

This month, Loanbaba raised $320,000 (Rs 2.1 crore) in seed funding from an unnamed angel investor. IndiaLends, an online marketplace that connects lenders and borrowers for unsecured loans has raised $1 million in a bridge investment round led by existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, Siddharth Parekh and Gautham Radhakrishnan.

In September, Loancircle.in raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Toppr.com co-founder Zishaan Hayath, Trifecta Capital's managing director Rahul Khanna and other investors. In January, Gurgaon-based Fairassets Technologies, which is behind P2P lending marketplace Faircent, secured an undisclosed amount in funding from Devesh Sachdev and Ashish Tiwari (promoters of Fusion Microfinance Pvt Ltd) at an enterprise valuation of $4 million.