CredAvenue, a marketplace for financial services firms and enterprises to discover lending and borrowing opportunities, has raised $90 million (Rs 667 crore) in its Series A round of funding led by Sequoia Capital.
Venture capital fund Lightspeed, mid-market-focused private equity firm TVS Capital Funds, social impact investor Lightrock, and venture debt firm Stride Ventures also participated in this round, as per a press statement.
The transaction has valued the company at around $410 million. Avendus advised CredAvenue on the deal. L&L Partners advised Sequoia and Lightspeed on their investment in CredAvenue.
Gaurav Kumar, who co-founded CredAvenue in August last year, said that the transaction saw the largest Series A cheque being handed to a startup in India. The capital will go towards expanding product capabilities and ramping up the platform’s technology and data science infrastructure.
“We are the only enterprise debt platform offering all forms of debt, both in India and abroad,” said Kumar who had earlier co-founded NBFC Vivriti Capital.
Till date, CredAvenue has facilitated transactions worth over $9 billion through the platform, engaging with over 1,500 institutional borrowers and more than 750 investors. It has serviced over 10 lakh end-retail borrowers.
“CredAvenue is a unique solution that not only simplifies access to credit for borrowers ranging from a BB to AA rating but also improves access to multiple debt products like bonds and supply chain financing on a single platform,” said Sakshi Chopra, managing director at Sequoia India.
“The platform is facilitating larger participation of retail investors in the corporate debt market, which is driving financial inclusion in the fixed income category and is an enabler for national economic direction in the much-needed deepening of the bond markets in India,” said Gopal Srinivasan, chairman at TVS Capital Funds.
SME lending is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the fintech space.
In June, Capital Float raised Rs 50 crore ($6.8 million) in debt for three years from financial inclusion funds managed by Triodos Investment Management. It has raised over Rs 200 crore in debt since January.
In April, StashFin raised $40 million in its Series B round of funding from Altara Ventures, Uncorrelated Ventures, Integrated Capital, Kravis Investment Partners, Saison Capital, and Tencent Cloud Europe BV.