Fintech startup Ftcash raises $7.22 mn in Series A round led by Dutch lender FMO

Mumbai-based Nomisma Mobile Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates fintech startup Ftcash, has raised $7.22 million (Rs 50 crore at current exchange rates) in its Series A round of funding, a company statement said.

The funding round was led by Dutch development bank FMO and seed-stage impact investor Accion Venture Lab. Existing investor IvyCap Ventures also participated in the round.

The company will use the latest round of funding to accelerate product development and expand into new geographies.

“Our investment in Ftcash represents an opportunity for Accion to continue its work helping financial services platforms leverage partnerships, technology and data to increase financial inclusion for micro merchants in India,” Radhika Shroff, deputy chief investment officer of Accion Global Investments, stated.

Additionally, Accion is also providing advisory services to help Ftcash scale its current business and develop new product lines and business models.

In 2017, Ftcash raised its pre-Series A round of funding from Silicon Valley-based early-stage venture fund 500 Startups and previous investor IvyCap Ventures.

Ftcash

The venture was co-founded in 2014 by Sanjeev Chandak, former deputy finance chief of Deutsche Bank India; Deepak Kothari, a chartered accountant with stints at KPMG and Grant Thornton; and Vaibhav Lodha.

Ftcash offers payments and loans to micro-merchants, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), home-based entrepreneurs and mom-and-pop stores. The company has created an open platform for merchants by aggregating payment methods including credit and debit cards, net banking, mobile wallets, state-backed payments system Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayPal. The company also allows merchants to repay loans directly through the platform.

Incubated by online payments company PayPal Holdings Inc., Ftcash also services global merchants via a strategic partnership with US payment giant Mastercard.

“By using transaction data for credit assessment and leveraging repayments from the Ftcash payments platform, Ftcash is pioneering a model that can reach over 60 million micro-merchants in India, 96% of whom have been underserved by banks and traditional finance companies,” said Chandak, co-founder and chief executive of Ftcash.

The company claims to have delivered financial services to over 30,000 merchants

It charges an interest rate of 18-30% per annum and the ticket size of its loans is Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

Recent deals in online lending

• May 2019: Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India) topped up its Series B investment in Bengaluru-based online lending platform EarlySalary.
• April 2019: Online loan platform InCred Financial Services Ltd raised Rs 600 crore ($86 million) in a Series A funding round led by Dutch development bank FMO.
• April 2019: Bengaluru-based shopping loans marketplace ZestMoney raised $20 million (about Rs 140 crore) in its Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Quona Capital.
• April 2019: Mumbai-based Eduvanz Financing Pvt. Ltd, an online platform that provides education loans for students and skill-seekers, raised $2 million (Rs 13.8 crore) from Unitus Ventures and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
• April 2019: Bengaluru-based online consumer lending company Credy raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round of funding.