Lendingkart raises $30 mn from existing investors

Lendingkart Technologies, which runs the digital lending platform, has raised $30 million (Rs 212 crore at the current exchange rate) in a fresh funding round, led by existing investors including Fullerton Financial Holdings, Bertelsmann India Investments and India Quotient.

The capital from this round will be used to expand lending, expand reach to small and underserved micro-enterprises and strengthen technological and analytics capabilities, the company said in a statement.

With this round, the equity raised by Lendingkart stands at $143 million.

Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Lendingkart Technologies on this transaction.

“We are pleased with the momentum in our business and this equity will help us meet the growth opportunities we are seeing. Micro and small businesses represent a vibrant yet underserved segment of the Indian economy,” Harshvardhan Lunia, co-founder and managing director, Lendingkart Technologies, said.

The group was founded in 2014 by Lunia and Mukul Sachan. It operates two entities — Lendingkart Technologies and Lendingkart Finance (formerly Aadri Infin). 

Lendingkart Technologies handles technology and digital marketing and has developed tools based on big data analytics that help lenders evaluate borrowers' creditworthiness. 

Lendingkart Finance is the company’s non-banking finance company (NBFC) arm that provides collateral-free working capital loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 crore to small businesses.

Lendingkart Finance has evaluated nearly half a million applications, disbursing over 60,000 loans to more than 55,000 MSMEs spread across 1,300 cities so far, according to the company.

The group has so far raised over $214 million from investors through a mix of equity and debt, is one of the well-funded digital lending startups along with peer Capital Float.

In its previous financial round, the company had raised Rs 80 crore ($11.4 million then) in venture debt from Alteria Capital.  

Previously, it secured $87 million (Rs 565 crore then) in a Series C round of funding led by Singapore’s Fullerton Financial Holdings in February this year. Its other investors include Sistema Asia Fund, Mayfield India, and Saama Capital.

“Over the past year, Lendingkart’s business has seen robust growth and continues to exhibit great potential.  We are delighted to continue partnering with Lendingkart who has been at the forefront of making working capital digitally accessible for MSMEs, as India continues its journey towards becoming a digitally enabled country,” Yeo Hong Ping, president, Fullerton Financial Holdings, said.