BharatPe secures $27 mn debt funding from IIFL, Northern Arc

Delhi-based payments startup BharatPe has raised Rs 200 crore ($27 million) in its seventh round of debt financing from IIFL Wealth and Northern Arc Capital.  

The company said it plans to raise $250 million in debt by the end of 2021-22. So far this year, BharatPe has raised Rs 500 crore ($70 million) in debt.   

“We have witnessed a surge in demand for merchant loans, with multi-fold growth over the last one year. With the festive season coming up soon, we are committed to scaling our lending vertical aggressively and have set a target of 10x growth in lending by 2022-23,” said Suhail Sameer, CEO of BharatPe.  

He added that the company targets to raise $700 million in debt over the next two years. The firm aims to partner with domestic and international investors to facilitate credit growth.   

The company said it will build a loan book of $1 billion by March 2021 as it expands to new cities. Earlier this year, BharatPe raised Rs 300 crore from venture debt funds (Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, and Trifecta Capital), banks (ICICI Bank, Axis Bank) and non-bank lender Northern Arc Capital.  

BharatPe has so far dispersed over $300 million in unsecured loans to over two lakh merchant partners, and the company has an outstanding loan book of $100 million, it said in a statement.  

Earlier this month, BharatPe announced its $370 million (Rs 2,743 crore) Series E funding round led by Tiger Global, attaining unicorn status.  

In June, it received an in-principle approval by the Reserve Bank of India to establish a small finance bank with Centrum Financial Services. In the same month, the firm acquired loyalty programme company PAYBACK India.   

Founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018, the fintech firm operates UPI QR code-based payment acceptance for small and medium businesses. The company has also launched BharatSwipe, a payment acceptance terminal.