Exclusive: Former Lendingkart execs float consumer lending startup, raise capital

Two former executives from online lending platform Lendingkart have quit the firm to set up a new venture in the alternative lending space, catering to consumers.

The stealth-mode venture, christened MoneyOnClick, has been floated by Vishal Chopra, former chief revenue and business officer, and Himanshu Gupta, former vice president and head of data science and analytics.

According to their respective LinkedIn accounts, the startup, which has been operational since October 2018, has already raised $2.25 million (Rs 16.02 crore at current exchange rates) as part of its first institutional funding round from investors it didn't disclose.

“We have raised equity funding at the ideation stage from premier venture capital funds that have also backed few of India's most successful unicorns and startups. Our ideation stage equity fund raise is one of the highest ever in India,” Chopra stated on his LinkedIn account.

TechCircle could not immediately ascertain details regarding the formal launch of the company’s operations. The startup’s desktop site does not have any information about the venture barring a message that it is gearing up to launch soon. Information on the co-founders’ LinkedIn page shows that the company is currently hiring talent across verticals.

Email queries sent to Chopra seeking more information on MoneyOnClick did not elicit a response at the time of publishing this report.

Separately, MoneyOnClick said in a statement on 31 January that it had raised Rs 15 crore as part of its seed capital fund from Orios Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital and 3one4 Capital.

MoneyOnClick

Information on Chopra’s and Gupta’s LinkedIn accounts states that the new venture is likely to operate in the online business-to-consumer lending space. The company is targeting customers currently outside the purview of the formal banks and non-banking finance companies.

“Using advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence-based underwriting and in-house technology platform, we aim to provide unsecured personal loans to these customers while keeping very low default rates,” their accounts stated.

An MBA from the Indian School of Business, Chopra, who is also the chief executive officer of MoneyOnClick, had served as the regional director at UAE-based e-commerce firm Souq (acquired by Amazon) prior to his Lendingkart stint. Earlier, he had also worked at Amazon and was heading the books, music and movie categories on the marketplace. 

Co-founder and chief operating officer Gupta is an IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore alumnus and had worked as a data scientist at research and analysis firm IHS Markit prior to his Lendingkart stint. He earlier worked as a research engineer at IBM, among others.

B2C lending startups

Online lenders offer their services to consumers and small and medium enterprises. While the likes of Lendingkart and Capital Float cater primarily to the SMEs, companies like EarlySalary, Paysense, LoanTap, Moneytap and now MoneyOnClick cater to consumers.

The B2C lending space has seen significant deal activity in recent times. In this month alone, at least five companies in the space have raised funding.

A day earlier, Mumbai-based peer-to-peer lending platform LiquiLoans, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from existing investor Matrix Partners India.

Mumbai-based LoanTap Financial Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a digital platform that offers loans and overdraft products to salaried professionals, raised $8 million (Rs 57 crore) in a fresh round of funding led by new investor 3one4 Capital.

Bengaluru-based shopping loan marketplace ZestMoney raised an undisclosed amount of venture debt from Alteria Capital, as part of an extended Series A round, which was led by Chinese handset maker Xiaomi in August 2018.

Mumbai-based fintech firm BigWin Infotech Pvt. Ltd, which owns peer-to-peer lending marketplace PaisaDukan.com, has raised $235,000 (Rs 1.6 crore) in its third seed funding round from an undisclosed angel investor.

Mumbai-based mobile payments startup ePayLater raised an undisclosed sum from Japan-based GMO Global Fintech Fund as part of its pre-Series A round, in which ICICI Bank had also invested earlier.

*This article has been updated to add the names of the investors.