True Balance raises $10 mn to scale, break even lending arm

Online lending and financial services provider True Balance on Monday said it has raised $10 million (about $72.39 crore) in debt funding from a group of investors in India and Korea that includes non-bank financial institution (NBFC) Northern Arc Capital.

True Balance will use the fresh infusion to expand its lending arm, True Credits, in India and launch new products, as per a statement.  

True Balance, a Reserve Bank of India-authorised fintech player operated by Balancehero India, is a subsidiary of Balancehero in Korea. 

“This round of funding will be fortifying the collective effort by start-ups such as us and the government to make India a stronger economy as we move forward towards growth. We are also expecting additional funding of $40 million, this financial year,” True Balance CFO Vishal Bhatia said. 

The Seoul and Gurugram headquartered fintech startup said it has disbursed loans over $30 million, in the current financial year so far, through the licensed NBFC subsidiary, True Credits. 

The fresh debt fund investment will largely help the NBFC True Credits to achieve break-even status for its business, and deliver profitability by the third quarter of financial year 2021, the statement added.   

The entity had previously raised a series D stage funding of $28 million (Rs 208 crore) from SoftBank Ventures Asia, Line Ventures Corporation, D3 Jubilee Partners, among other global investors towards the end of last year. 

As per the statement, True Balance’s loan book has grown over manifolds since April 2020, specially across two key products Cash Loans and Level Up Loans. The two products help the company’s app lend loans from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 to customers within the income bracket of Rs 10,000 and Rs 45,000. 

The company claims to use an internal alternative credit scoring system (ACS), machine learning based underwriting models to fund new-to-credit (NTC) and low-credit users. 

“Since we launched in India, the focus was on catering to the needs of the next billion Indian users. This audience will continue to be an integral part of every decision-making process, and product line that we introduce in India,” True Balance CEO Victor Choi said. 

Founded in Korea in 2014 by Cheolwon Lee, Balancehero launched an app two years later in India. The app initially helped users manage their phone calls and data usage. It now provides financial services for recharge, utility bills, insurance, shopping, and instant loans.