Gurgaon-based fin-tech startup Indifi Technologies Pvt. Ltd, floated by angel investor and venture capital firm Canaan Partners’ former India chief Alok Mittal, has appointed former ICICI Bank veteran Maninder Juneja as strategic advisor.
Juneja, who is currently managing director at True North Managers LLP (earlier India Value Fund Advisors) and has worked for close to 25 years in the banking and finance industry, will be actively involved in the overall growth strategy of Indifi, the company said in a statement.
“Maninder brings a wealth of experience which will be vital across a range of issues including strategic direction, credit and customer understanding, and the network of relationships in the industry,†Mittal said.
Founded in 2015 by Mittal, Siddharth Mahanot, and Sundeep Sahi, Indifi is an online platform connecting small businesses with formal lending institutions. It has tied up with a number of financial institutions such as Edelweiss, India Infoline and Capital First, which provide credit financing to micro, small and medium enterprises. Indifi said it takes a segment-specific approach and lending products in any given segment are tightly integrated with the business cash flows and transactional linkages in that segment.
Indifi is focused on building depth in the segments of its operation and also explores new segments that are relevant to credit decisions.
In December it raised high-ticket funding of $10 million (Rs 66.5 crore) in a Series B round led by Omidyar Network — an investment firm founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar — along with participation from existing investors Accel Partners and Elevar Equity.
In September 2015, the startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Accel and Elevar. Other investors in the firm include Genpact founder Pramod Bhasin, Google’s Rajan Anandan, Gaurav Dalmia, Abhishek Goyal, Gagan Hasteer and Arun Tadanki.
Online lending as a category in the fintech space is growing rapidly. According to a Techcircle analysis, over 25 online lending startups have emerged in the past two years targeting different segments such as small businesses, students and salaried professionals, and majority of them have also attracted investors’ attention. Of the more than 600 fintech startups currently active in India, around 40% are payments and lending startups, according to Swissnex India’s report ‘Fintech in India’.
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