Lendingkart raises $30 Mn in equity round led by existing investors

Digital lending platform Lendingkart has bagged another equity round of $30 million led by existing investors - Fullerton Financial Holdings, Bertelsmann India and India Quotient.

With this funding round, it has received over $280 million in a mix of equity and debt. The fresh proceeds will be used to expand lending bases, deepen its reach to small and underserved micro-enterprises and further strengthen technological and analytics capabilities.

The firm counted amongst the fastest growing NBFC has been raising funds at regular intervals. After raising $87 million Series C round in February 2018, it scooped up Rs 300 crore in a non-convertible debentures (NCD) round led by Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, and raised Rs 80 crore debt round from Alteria Capital in June this year.

The five-year-old startup led by Harshavardhan Lunia leverages technology tools based on big data analytics, and machine learning algorithms to evaluate creditworthiness.  It provides collateral-free working capital loans ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 40 lakh to small business.

Currently present in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Kolkata, Lendingkart has a service reach across India. Till date, it claims to have evaluated nearly half a million applications, disbursing over 60,000 loans to more than 55,000 MSMEs in 1,300 cities.

It counts Capital Float, NeoGrowth, and India Lends among major competitors.

Apart from India Quotient, lead investor Fullerton has invested in very few startups whereas Bertelsmann India has some notable startups under its portfolio including music streaming app, online furniture marketplace Saavn Pepperfry, and higher education services) iNurture.

Launched in 2012, Bertelsmann focuses on series B and C stage investments in digital, education, media and services sectors.