Online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform LenDenClub has raised $10 million (around Rs 75 crore) in a Series A round, co-led by Tuscan Ventures, Ohm Stock Brokers, and Artha Venture Fund.
The round also witnessed participation from Kunal Shah, Founder of Cred, Alok Bansal, Co-founder, Policybazaar, Ramakant Sharma, Co-founder, Livspace, Hardik Pandya, and Krishna Bhupal, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
With the current round of funding, LenDenClub is valued at more than $51 million (around Rs 384 crore). The company plans to utilise the funds for expansion, taking its loan book growth to $1 billion (approximately Rs 7532 crore), and increasing its user-base to 10 million, from the current 2.5 million, by FY23. It is targeting 5X growth in disbursals in the next 18 months, the statement said.
Maharashtra-based LenDenClub aims to invest heavily in innovating and upgrading its proprietary tech stack platform to aid growth in its customer base, while supporting banking operations conducted on its platform.
"We have been constantly inventing products that yield greater returns for our investors and democratising credit while offering market competitive rates for our borrowers. Futuristic, customer centric-products and seamless digital experience offered by our platform backed by a focused market expansion approach, is what has aided the exponential growth of LenDenClub," said Bhavin Patel, Co-founder & CEO, LenDenClub.
Founded in 2016 by Bhavin Patel and Dipesh Karki, LenDenClub connects lenders looking for high returns with credit-worthy borrowers looking for personal loans. It also offers new-age investment options to investors in India. It claims to process over 2.5 lakh loan applications every month. The company serves two high-growth loan products - InstaMoney for salaried customers and small business loans for merchants and shopkeepers. It has over one million investors on board, the statement said.
In 2019, LenDenClub raised $1 million (approximately Rs 7.16 crore) in its pre-Series A round co-led by Artha Venture Fund-I, Transworld Group and Shuchi Kothari of the DSP Group.
According to the statement, the company has witnessed 5-8 times growth in their loan disbursals during the last three fiscals, and has one of the lowest non-performing assets (NPAs) of 3.95%.
In similar deals, earlier this year, P2P lending marketplace PaisaDukan, owned by BigWin Infotech Pvt. Ltd, initiated P2P lending options for rural women.
In 2019, online P2P lending platform Faircent raised funding, along with artificial intelligence-powered (AI) startup Parentof.
Earlier, P2P lending and credit marketplace Lendbox raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A round of funding from VC firm IvyCap Ventures Advisors Pvt Ltd.
