Financial services startup Bold Finance on Friday said it has secured an undisclosed sum of pre-seed funding from the early-stage venture capital firm Antler India.
The Mumbai-based platform said it will be using the fresh funds for offline branding, roping in more channel partners and boosting operations. It also plans to expand its presence to Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh this year.
Set up by ex-Mckinsey and ex-Flipkart alumni Nikhil Jain and Durgesh Suthar, respectively, Bold Finance claims to leverage existing jewelers’ shops for acquiring customers, gold appraisal and loan disbursement, while, teaming up with banks to underwrite loans and facilitate storage for gold collateral.
The company also claims that its debut product ‘Bold Loan’ is the India’s first gold loan credit franchise model.
“Currently, 65% of the $135 billion gold loan market is unorganized and is managed by pawnbrokers, money lenders & jewellers. In the unorganised market, customers are often exploited with high-interest rates, usually upwards of 30%, and lenders bypass all regulations. This is the key challenge we are undertaking - to enable financial freedom for Bharat, starting with gold loans," said Nikhil Jain.
Founded in Singapore in 2017, Antler India is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in tech-backed companies. It has offices in London, Berlin, Stockholm, New York, Singapore, and Sydney.
The firm aims to deploy around $100 million to $150 million in more than 100 Indian startups over the next three years.
