Mumbai-based Credit Sudhaar Services Pvt. Ltd has raised undisclosed amounts from Deepak Kulkarni and Sandeep Pangal, two senior executives it has inducted to its board as directors and shareholders, a top company executive told VCCircle.
The company will use the funds raised to "build a loan book" even as it readies to raise $25 million (Rs 162 crore) to accelerate growth.
"We are using the fresh funds and expertise that Deepak and Sandeep bring as a platform to be able to raise our next $25 million," said Arun Ramamurthy, co-founder at Credit Sudhaar.
A qualified chartered accountant, Kulkarni previously worked at Bain & Company where he rose to become a partner. Pangal is an IIM-Calcutta alumnus who previously headed Indian investment banking operations at Credit Suisse.
“Both bring expertise that will enable Credit Sudhaar to progress by helping to gather the necessary ingredients for growth, including attracting the best people, putting in place the best processes and partnering with industry leaders for further capital raises,†Ramamurthy added.
Founded in 2013 by finance professionals Ramamurthy and Gaurav Wadhwani, Credit Sudhaar provides credit advisory services and renders financial products customised to match users’ credit profile. Its services include various credit and financial tools such as credit score, credit score simulator and a wide range of analytical assessments that help users understand their credit health.
The group's divisions are Credit Sudhaar Finance, a non-banking financial company (NBFC), and Credit Sudhaar Services, an advisory. It employs more than 150 people in all, and claims to have a registered user base of more than 5 lakh.
Credit Sudhaar Finance has been operational for over two years now, but it started lending actively just six months ago. As part of its credit counselling and advisory process, it lends to people with poor credit history and credit score.
"As for advisory, we have serviced more than 10,000 clients. We have disbursed 1,000 loans so far," Ramamurthy said. "While Credit Sudhaar continues to take steps to maintain its leadership position in credit advisory, the company's future plans centre significantly around expanding the lending proposition to people with challenged credit profiles. We will use our NBFC vehicle, Credit Sudhaar Finance, across multiple geographies towards this objective," he added.
Every month, there are personal loans worth Rs 25,000 crore getting rejected, mainly because of poor credit score. "We will be using all our skills to infuse more capital from external sources, which we can leverage to build a large and scalable loan book," Ramamurthy said.
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