Techfino raises ₹65 crore to expand MSME lending in smaller cities

Techfino to use fresh funding from Stellaris and Saison Capital to scale secured loans, expand branches, and boost tech-led lending in underserved MSME markets

Techfino, a tech-enabled non-banking financial company, has raised ₹65 crore in a funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Saison Capital, the venture investment arm of Tokyo-listed Credit Saison Co.

 

The Bengaluru-based lender said it will use the fresh capital to broaden its branch network, enhance its technology infrastructure and scale its secured lending operations. There is also a focus on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India’s underserved Tier II and III cities.

 

Founded with an emphasis on asset-backed lending, Techfino specialises in loans against property (LAP), operating primarily through a branch-led model. The company currently maintains a presence in Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

 

Techfino also offers education financing through a B2B2C distribution model by partnering with education service providers. The company reports having maintained profitability since its inception.

 

Founded by seasoned bankers Jayaprakash Patra (ex-ICICI Bank and ING), Rajesh Panda (ex-Standard Chartered) and Ratikant Satapathy (ex-Bajaj Finance), the founding team brings decades of leadership experience across retail and corporate banking, deep lending domain expertise and a strong network within the ecosystem.

 

“Out of the 640 million registered MSMEs in India, 390 million are not part of the formal credit economy,” said Rajesh Panda, Co-founder, Techfino. “This segment, especially in rural and semi-urban markets, generates an estimated quarterly demand of ₹2,00,000 crore.”

 

Panda highlighted that banks and large NBFCs show limited presence in this segment. He said the firm is leveraging its deep understanding of risk, superior underwriting capability, efficient in-house collection infrastructure and robust technology platform to serve this large, underserved market.

 

“At Techfino, we leverage a robust technology platform which we have internally developed from scratch,” said Ratikant Satapathy, Co-founder, Techfino. “This platform integrates multiple external APIs to obtain and verify data critical for underwriting. This technology has resulted in higher efficiency, better data-driven risk assessment and lower TAT (turnaround time).”

 

The funding comes amid increased investor interest in niche NBFCs leveraging technology to reach credit-starved segments of India’s economy.

 

“The credit gap in the MSME sector is a massive opportunity for lending companies, which can be addressed through the formalisation and digitisation of small businesses through UPI and GST,” said Ritesh Banglani, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners.

 

Banglani noted that Techfino has demonstrated that it is possible to build a high-quality, profitable lending business in this otherwise risky segment. This is done with strong underwriting and collections, and tech-enablement of the entire lending lifecycle.

 

Techfino has disbursed over 1 lakh loans to date and crossed ₹200 crore in assets under management (AUM). The company aims to double its number of branches this year, scale disbursements and AUM, and build a sizable secured lending business over the next 3–5 years.