Stride Ventures provides debt fund of Rs 15 cr in lending platform ZipLoan

Stride Ventures on Wednesday said it has provided a debt fund of Rs 15 crore to ZipLoan, a technology-enabled lending platform that provides loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

"This is Stride's first foray into fintech (financial technology) lending, and the amount will be disbursed in two tranches. The investment underlines the firm's commitment to leverage traditional banking capital to cater to the start-up ecosystem," according to a statement.

ZipLoan caters to the need of working capital loans for kirana stores and micro industries. Its proprietary platform ZipScore, which tests credit worthiness of a borrower, has helped maintain non-performing assets at under 3 per cent, the statement said.

"We are excited to partner with ZipLoan in their pursuit to revolutionise lending to small business owners. It is our endeavour at Stride to make credit accessible and efficient, as we try to prevent equity dilution and make entrepreneurs truly 'Aatmanirbhar'," Stride Ventures founder and Managing Partner Ishpreet Gandhi said.

Gandhi added that the company has exhibited tremendous growth without compromising the quality of the loan book.

Kshitij Puri, co-founder and CEO of ZipLoan, said the MSME segment is the most important contributor to India's economy, but still continues to be credit-starved.

"Even during the current crisis, the MSME segment has shown great resilience demonstrated by strong collections we have had," he added.

Venture capital firm Stride Ventures launched its maiden fund in 2019 with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore and plans to invest in 35-40 start-ups over the next 3 years.

Till date, ZipLoan has disbursed about Rs 400 crore of loans across 10,000 borrowers. It is present in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Dehradun.