Exclusive: Online lending marketplace IndiaLends to raise $9.3 mn in fresh capital

GC Web Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which operates online lending marketplace IndiaLends, is in the process of raising Rs 63.9 crore (around $9.3 million at current exchange rates) in fresh capital, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told VCCircle.

Existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, American Express Ventures and Chinese investment firm Cyber Carrier VC will also participate in this round along with other unnamed investors, one of the above-mentioned persons said on the condition of anonymity.

The second person said that the three-year-old IndiaLends will raise its latest round of funding at an estimated post-money valuation of around Rs 360 crore ($53 million).

It was not immediately clear whether the fresh fundraise will constitute IndiaLends’ Series B round of part of a larger infusion.

E-mail queries sent to IndiaLends’ co-founders Gaurav Chopra and Mayank Kachhwaha did not elicit a response till the time of publishing this report.

Delhi-based IndiaLends last raised money in 2016, when it secured $4 million (around Rs 27.3 crore) in its Series A round from existing investor DSG Consumer Partners.

American Express Ventures, Cyber Carrier VC and Noida-based early stage fund AdvantEdge Partners had also participated in that round.

Before that, the company had raised $1 million in a bridge round led by existing investor DSG Consumer Partners and two individual investors—Siddharth Parekh and Gautham Radhakrishnan.

IndiaLends

IndiaLends was founded in March 2015 by London Business School graduate Chopra and IIT Madras alumni Kachhwaha. The duo had earlier worked at Capital One, a US-based financial institution.

The platform essentially operates an online loan disbursal platform connecting lenders and borrowers. The loan products offered on the platform include personal and home loans.

Users can avail loans in the range of Rs 25,000-Rs 50 lakh. The tenure of these loans ranges between one and five years. Besides, IndiaLends also offers credit cards, free credit reports and EMI calculator as part of its offerings.

While it is not known how many loans have been disbursed via the platform, IndiaLends claims to have a customer base of more than 1 million. It has tied up with more than 40 lending partners that include a mix of banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

The company counts the likes of American Express, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Yes Bank and IDFC bank among its banking partners while IIFL (India Infoline), Tata Capital, Capital First, Indostar Capital Finance and Bajaj Finserv, among others, form part of its NBFC lending network.

IndiaLends’ operational revenue rose nearly six times in the financial year 2016-17 to Rs 1.76 crore, up from Rs 30.22 lakh in the previous fiscal. Its gross expenditure tripled during that period as net loss widened to Rs 9.58 crore, up from Rs 3.47 crore in 2015-16.

Deals in the space

The fintech space has emerged as a preferred destination for investors over the past couple of years, given its high scope for disruption coupled with the government’s push to go digital.

In 2017, the sector recorded a four-fold jump in funding to $1.84 billion from $447 million the year before that, as per VCCEdge, the research arm of News Corp VCCircle.

There has been a string of deals this year as well, with at least seven fintech ventures receiving funding in June alone.

Leading the pack was ETechAces Marketing & Consulting Pvt. Ltd, the operator of online insurance selling platform PolicyBazaar.com and lending marketplace PaisaBazaar.com, which raised $200 million (Rs 1,360 crore) in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund at a valuation of more than $1 billion. 

The other fintech startups that raised money in the same month included domestic remittance services firm Eko India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd, investment app Sqrrl, trade financing firm Drip Capital, digital lending platform SMEcorner, supply chain financing startup CredAble and mass market mutual fund investment platform Nivesh.com.