Lendingkart raises Rs 30-cr from Dutch development bank

Lendingkart Finance today said it has raised Rs 30 crore in non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor OntwikkelingslandenNV (FMO), a Dutch development bank that invests in growth and frontier markets.
This new influx of debt funds will be used towards growing the loan book and expanding the reach of Lendingkart Finance across SME industries, Lendingkart said in a statement.
As of today, Lendingkart Finance has disbursed over 20,000 loans to more than 13,000 SMEs across 23 sectors.
"With a committed portfolio of 9.8 billion euros, FMO is one of the larger bilateral private sector development banks globally... This being our first foreign debt raise will open avenues for Lendingkart Finance's future foreign debt funding as well," Lendingkart Technologies CEO and co-founder Harshvardhan Lunia said.

The fresh capital will be utilised to refuel loan books that will allow the company to cater to a wider range of SMEs who need working capital finance, he added.
Lendingkart Finance uses technology tools based on big data analytics andmachine learning algorithms to evaluate its client's credit worthiness.
About 5,000 data variables are assessed to determine factors like financial health, comparative market performance, social reliability and compliance.
Once the evaluation process is completed, loan amount is disbursed to the eligible borrowerwithin 72 hoursfrom the time of application.