How start-up IndiaLends is disrupting the fintech space

IndiaLends announced a $1 million bridge round of funding by existing investors led by Singapore-headquartered DSG Consumer Partners, reports Tech in Asia

IndiaLends, set up in March this year to help individuals as well as small businesses get unsecured loans, is gaining traction fast. The Delhi-based start-up recently expanded to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune, tying up with 10 financial institutions to provide loans to those who don’t meet the usual eligibility criteria.

Today it announced a $1 million bridge round of funding by existing investors led by Singapore-headquartered DSG Consumer Partners. This comes less than three months after its first round of funding and will be used to expand into eight more Indian cities by the end of the year.
 

IndiaLends uses proprietary underwriting algorithms to build risk profiles of customers based on their bank transactions, utility payments, and the like. This brings large numbers of excluded people and businesses into the credit-worthy pool. In India, 80% of loans go to those with a CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau India Limited) score of over 750. But many in the sub-750 lot (in a 300 to 900 range of scores) would be considered eligible if new data points were to be used – and that’s what IndiaLends brings to the system.
 

IndiaLends co-founder Gaurav Chopra cites the example of a small furniture shop in Delhi that was finding it difficult to get a loan from banks and established lenders. “Within two days we were able to secure him a collateral free loan of Rs 400,000 to expand his business,” says Gaurav, an MBA from London Business School who earlier worked for international financial corporation Capital One.
 

Interestingly, IndiaLends is not only helping such customers get access to credit, but also build their credit scores so that they are eligible for bigger loans at better terms in the future. 

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.