Online lending firm Capital Float gets on board Sequoia MD Ravishankar

GV Ravishankar, one of the managing directors at Sequoia Capital India, has joined the board of digital lending platform Capital Float, a person privy to the development told TechCircle.

Ravishankar’s appointment on the board of Capital Float (trade name of Zen Lefin Pvt. Ltd) took place in January, the person said.

The development comes almost 10 months after the exit of managing director Gautam Mago from Sequoia, who was representing the  venture capital firm on the board of Capital Float. Mago announced his decision to move on from Sequoia after a 10-year stint.

However, Mago formally gave up directorial responsibilities on the board of Capital Float only in December last year. Mago was involved in at least 16 of Sequoia’s portfolio firms, including mobile wallet company MobiKwik, budget hotel marketplace OYO Rooms, cab-hailing firm Ola, digital healthcare platform Practo and online furniture store Urban Ladder.

It is not clear whether Ravishankar will replace Mago in other Sequoia portfolio firms as well. E-mail queries to Ravishankar as well as Capital Float co-founder Sashank Rishyasringa did not immediately get a response.

GV Ravishankar 
An MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, Ravishankar has been part of Sequoia since 2006. In his earlier stints, he has served McKinsey & Company and Wipro Technologies. Besides Capital Float, Ravishankar also represents Sequoia on the boards of ed-tech firm Byju’s, online interior designing firm HomeLane, food-tech firm Faasos, outdoor products maker Wildcraft and others.

In fact, Ravishankar also represents Sequoia on the boards of companies like Prataap Snacks and Suburban Diagnostics, which earlier had VT Bharadwaj, another managing director at Sequoia Capital, who decided to step down this month after 11 years at the venture capital and growth-stage investor. 

Capital Float
Capital Float was founded in 2013 by Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja. It is a marketplace where banks and non-bank financial companies co-lend, along with the firm.

Capital Float is one of the most significantly funded online lending platforms. It has raised a total of $86 million in equity financing so far from Ribbit Capital, SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital India and Creation Investments, and others, according to data available with VCCEdge, the data research platform of News Corp VCCircle.

In 2016-17, Capital Float’s revenue grew to Rs 46.58 crore from Rs 9.45 crore the previous year. Expenses nearly tripled to Rs 117.32 crore from Rs 41.90 crore over the same period. As a result, losses more than doubled to Rs 63.47 crore from Rs 28.99 crore over the period.

Recently, a report in The Economic Times had stated that e-commerce major Amazon Indian was likely to invest $5-10 million (Rs 32-64 crore) in Capital Float. As part of the deal, Capital Float is likely to foray into consumer financing and start lending on Amazon’s platform.