Online loan matchmaker i2iFunding raises angel funds

Online loan platform i2iFunding, which matches salaried borrowers with individual creditors, has raised Rs 5 crore ($768,000) in a second round of angel funding, the company said.

The round, which was led by Hyderabad-based SucSEED Venture Partners, saw participation from executives belonging to globally-renowned consulting and private equity firms.

The funds will be used to strengthen the company’s technology infrastructure and boost its geographical expansion. The new round takes the total funding raised by the company to Rs 7 crore ($1.07 million).

In May 2016, the Noida-based firm had raised funds worth Rs 2 crore in its previous round.

“Peer-to-peer lending (explained below) is set to redefine retail lending in India and add a clearly winning asset class for wealth managers, a phenomenon already established in the developed countries and increasingly successful in developing countries like China. With the central bank’s regulations, the industry is well-positioned to go mainstream very quickly,” SucSEED Venture Partners said. In peer-to-peer lending, borrowers take loans from individuals willing to lend their own money for an agreed interest rate.

RNVP Technology Pvt. Ltd, which runs i2iFunding, was founded in 2015 by Vaibhav Kumar Pandey, Neha Aggarwal and Manisha Bansal. Pandey and Aggarwal have MBA degrees from IIM-Ahmedabad and Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, respectively. Bansal is a chartered accountant.

I2iFunding connects verified borrowers looking for unsecured personal loans with individuals looking to give out money for high returns. The platform mainly focuses on salaried borrowers and issues loans up to Rs 5 lakh. The company claims it has grown over 10 times since its last angel investment in May 2016.

““The opportunity is immense. India will save more than $10 trillion over the next 10 years. We are developing technology that can easily help channel these savings to starved small borrowers. The recent regulations by the Reserve Bank of India are a shot in the arm,” said Pandey.

Over the next two years, the company aims to hit a monthly loan disbursal rate of Rs 15-20 crore from the current Rs 1 crore. It claims to have more than 50,000 customers and 3,000 active lenders.

A few online lending platforms have raised funds over the past couple of months. Earlier this month, Bengaluru-based Goddard Technical Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates online lending platform Avail Finance, had raised $17.2 million (Rs 111 crore) in a fresh round led by venture capital firm Matrix Partners.

In January, Pune-based online lending platform EarlySalary raised Rs 100 crore ($15.7 million) in a Series B round led by Eight Roads Ventures India.

In the same month, media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL) acquired a stake in a Mumbai-based online lending firm FinReq.