Exclusive: SmartCoin raises Series B round from Lightrock and others

Microlending startup SmartCoin has raised Rs 52.05 crore or close to $7 million in its Series B round from new and existing investors including Lightrock. The Bengaluru-based company had previously raised $7 million in Series A round in March 2020 and around $11 million in debt in July last year.

SmartCoin has allotted 2925 Series B CCPS at issue price of raise 1,77,830.47 per share to raise 52.05 crore from Lightrock, Pace Commodity Brokers and India SME Investments, regulatory filings show. Lightrock and Pace commodity Brokers have invested Rs 20 crore each while India SME Investments participated with Rs 12 crore.

As per Fintarckr’s estimates, the company has been valued at Rs 502 crore or $67 million. The round appears to be ongoing one and it may mop up more capital.

Following the allotment of fresh shares, Lightrock has become the largest stakeholder with 25.87% followed by Unicorn India Ventures with 9.25% holding. Promoters of SmartCoin cumulatively hold 35.42% of the compnay which is divided equally 8.86% each between Rohit Garg, Amit Chandel, Jayant Upadhyay and Vinay kumar.

The complete shareholding pattern can be seen below:

Five-year-old SmartCoin is a consumer lending startup focused on providing micro loans to the vast underserved middle and lower income segments. The startup’s product offering includes small-ticket personal loans to micro merchants, self-employed, , small retailers, Blue-Grey collared workers and salaried individuals. 

According to the company, its loan offering ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 70,000 with a tenure of 91 days to 270 days at a minimum annual percentage rate of 20% to 36%.

SmartCoin claims that it is present in over 17,000 pin codes in the country and has offered loans of more than Rs 400 crore to over 5.5 million users across India. It was selected in the second batch of Google’s Launchpad Accelerator programme and its App Excellence Program for its advanced data-driven and mobile-first approach.

Update: The story has been updated to reflect that Lightrock has invested in this round, not Lightbox. We regret the error.