Fin-tech startup Olly Credit raises fresh funds led by China’s CashBUS

Delhi-based Millennial Card Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates microcredit card provider Olly Credit, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Jade Value, the investment vehicle of Chinese microfinance company CashBUS, and India’s Lead Angels Network, a company statement said.

It is the first investment by Jade Value in India.

Olly Credit provides mobile-first credit cards on the VISA and Rupay networks with a limit of Rs 20,000 to low income salaried groups who earn between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 3.4 lakh. The credit allowance, aimed at addressing end-of-the-month cash crunch, is offered by the fin-tech company in collaboration with DCB Bank.

The company is in the process of adding non-banking finance companies as lending partners going ahead, co-founder Ashwin Bhambri told TechCircle/VCCircle.

“We will be increasing our user base and will address the Tier 2 and 3 markets with this round of capital. We start with a credit limit of Rs 5,000 which can go up to Rs 20,000. The users have to have a bank account in order to repay the loan through the app,” Bhambri said in the statement.

With this round of capital, the company plans to issue expense cards for students at the Maharana Pratap Group of Institutions. It has also tied up with over 40 corporate entities to offer the micro-credit card to employees including ShopKirana and Big Brewsky.

The company was founded in 2015 by Bhambri. Prior to setting up Olly Credit, he was earlier founder-in-residence at Start-Up Chile, a seed accelerator created by the Chilean Government. He has also earlier held stints at National Bank Financial Canada, iYogi Inc and Reliance Jio Infocomm.

In October 2017, Olly Credit secured seed funding led by Japan’s Incubate Fund with participation from angel investors.

“We were impressed by the founders and the landing space in India excites us. We will be working closely with Olly Credit and help them build on a state-of-the-art digital underwriting system,” said Johan Uddman, general manager at Jade Value Fintech in the statement.

Deals in the space

In 2017, funding in India's fin-tech sector increased four times touching $1.84 billion from $447 million in 2016, data from VCCEdge, the research arm of News Corp VCCircle, showed.

The trend has continued even in 2018. Other startups that offer loans to salaried individuals include Mumbai-based LoanTap Financial Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which last month raised $6.25 million (around Rs 42.8 crore) in a round led by Chinese venture capital firm Shunwei Capital. It offers loans and overdraft products to working professionals with two to five years of job experience.

In May this year, Pune-based EarlySalary raised $15.7 million (Rs 100 crore) in a Series B funding round led by Eight Roads Ventures India. The startup offers salaried individuals a mobile app through which they can avail of instant loans for an average tenure of 30 days or till the next salary cycle.