Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd-backed IIFL Group on Thursday said that the company is planning to invest Rs 300 crore through its IIFL Fintech Fund in early-stage fintech startups over the next two years.
The company had launched IIFL Fintech Fund in August, with commitments from two of its group companies--IIFL Finance and IIFL Securities. The fund already has made four investments - Leegality, FinBox, Trendlyne and DataSutram. The company said that it is looking to back startups that offer last-mile credit through the fund.
The company also said that IIFL Fintech Fund is in advanced stages of discussion to make investments in 10 more fintech startups by end of March 2022.
“There is always need for early-stage funding to nurture the fintech start-up ecosystem. Fintech firms play a big role in creating cost-effective delivery of various financial products to the underserved and unbanked customers and help in accelerating the financial inclusion process,” said R Venkataraman, Co-Promoter, IIFL Group and Chairman, IIFL Securities Ltd.
IIFL Finance claims to have a retail customer base of 60 lakh across India, which are mostly based out of ‘underserved and unbanked’ territories. The company, thus wants to offer short-term business, affordable home loans, credit to micro-finance units, among other credit products through such investments, to these customers and further expand its footprint.
Similarly, IIFL Securities, a retail-focussed broking firm, which claims to have 23 lakh customers, is eyeing digital transformation, and through these investments, the company is looking to offer different capital market products to all parts of the country, the company said.
IIFL said that the fund is an extension of ‘IIFLDisrupt’ program, which IIFL Securities had launched last year to provide mentoring, financial and business support to fintech firms.