SME lender FlexiLoans raises $20 mn in debt and equity financing

Four years after raising one of Asia’s largest seed funding rounds, FlexiLoans Technologies, which runs an eponymous lending platform, has raised $20.34 million (about Rs 150 crore) in debt and equity financing.

The Falguni and Sanjay Nayar family office -- the personal investment arm of KKR India head Sanjay Nayar and Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar -- was the lead investor in the round, financing the entire equity portion, a statement said.

The company declined to share details of the other investors in the round. 

Read: How FlexiLoans is using tech as its secret sauce to speed up loan approvals

In 2016, the Mumbai-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) had raised $67.7 million through debt and equity lines. The round saw participation from Sanjay Nayar and other banking sector executives.

“FlexiLoans.com has one of the strongest fintech technology platform with a right mix of strategy, business partnerships and underwriting processes to capitalize on the digital lending opportunity in India, especially in the post-Covid environment,” a spokesperson from the Nayar family office said, following the latest investment.

The fintech startup said it will use the fresh capital to double down on micro SME lending. It will also announce significant alliance partnerships, launch innovative lending products and grow its footprint in the supply chain and co-lending verticals, the statement added.

Read: Blue Ashva Capital raises $60 mn in maiden fund to back startups, SMEs

“With this strong commitment by existing investors and industry veterans, FlexiLoans.com is now poised to enter the next phase of its growth journey that we have clearly crafted on the lines of profitability, growth and risk control,” Deepak Jain, co-founder of FlexiLoans, said. “We chose to accept this bid over other term sheets we had from a few institutional investors, given the long term nature of this capital.”

He founded FlexiLoans in 2016 with three finance industry executives Abhishek Kothari, Manish Lunia and Ritesh Jain. The company provides MSMEs access to collateral-free funds through its digital lending platform, which uses proprietary technology and risk models to score customers and approve loans within 48 hours.

So far, the NBFC said it has granted more than 30,000 loans to SMEs across 1,400+ Indian cities, with a cumulative value of more than Rs 800 crore.