Fintech startup Lendingkart Finance Ltd has raised about $10 million (Rs 67 crore) debt fund from KotakMahindra Bank, Aditya Birla Financial Services and other financial institutions.
As the company expands its reach to over 700 cities across the country, these funds will come in handy to re-stock the loan book, allowing them to widen its scope to SMEs country-wide, the company said in a statement here today.
Lendingkart Finance has disbursed over 12,000 loans to more than 9,500 SMEs across 23 diverse sectors.
Harshvardhan Lunia, CEO and co-founder, Lendingkart Technologies said: “For Lendingkart Finance, the influx of capital at strategic intervals is the key driver to promote financial inclusivity amongst SMEs in India. We recognise that SMEs are the backbone of the economy and if India is to continue to witness high growth, then supporting them is non-negotiable. While the funds from this round will be used to replenish our loan book and widen our range across the country, we are confident that our relationship with these companies will help us collectively work towards empowering SMEs through seamless availability of working capital.”
Manish Kothari, Senior EVP & Business Head, Corporate Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “We at Kotak Mahindra believe that each start-up business has its own unique set of requirements linked to their business model and, hence, understanding the nature of business and structuring the solution around it is essential. We are excited to work with Lendingkart Finance since we believe they have a unique and efficient proposition to finance customers – largely in a space which is not as effectively addressed by most banks.”
Aligned with the Centre’s agenda of building financial inclusion, Lendingkart Finance is working towards ensuring availability of working capital to SMEs across the country that do not currently have access to credit or are capital deficient.
[Source”cnbc”]
