Japan-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. through its consolidated subsidiary MUFG Bank, has led a $400 million equity investment round in non-bank lender DMI Finance Pvt Ltd in primary and secondary transaction, DMI Finance announced on Monday.
The round also saw participation from existing investor Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. The details of the primary and second transactions are awaited.
The fresh fundraise comes a year after it raised $47 million (around Rs 347.5 crore) equity investment round from new investor Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Limited (SuMi) two existing investors Liechtenstein-based asset management firm New Investment Solutions and South Korean investment firm NXC Corporation in January 2022.
DMI Finance is also backed by Dabur India promoter’s Burman Family Office, among other investors.
So far, it has raised over $1.5 billion in equity and debt investments from global institutional investors, strategic family offices and Indian and international banks.
“Powered by world-leading digital infrastructure, India is amid an unprecedented transformation. DMI Finance aims to be the trusted partner for Indian households and small businesses in addressing their rapidly growing financial needs. We are delighted to welcome MUFG and SuMi Trust Bank on this pioneering mission, on which we embarked in 2016, of providing credit in real time to our clients,” said Shivashish Chatterjee, co-founder and joint managing director of DMI Finance.
New Delhi-based DMI Finance was founded in 2008 by former Citigroup executives Shivashish Chatterjee and Yuvraj C Singh and has been in the real estate financing space for over a decade. It is the non-banking financial company (NBFC) of the DMI Group and has been lending since 2009. It provides personal loans, lines of credit, buy now pay later (BNPL), OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) financing and MSME loans.
DMI Finance calls itself a full-stack digital lending and loan life cycle management platform and has a pan-India customer base of over 25 million, (up from six million last year) and is expected to grow to 40 million+ in FY24.
It is projected to disburse over $2.5 billion in FY24 across products, the company said in the statement.
In March last year, DMI Finance acquired a controlling stake in six-year-old payment system operator Appnit Technologies Private Limited (ATPL), a prepaid instrument license holder which offers payment products across banking channels.
“For MUFG, Asia is an important and its second home market, and India is one of our most expected growing markets with population growth and foundation of digital infrastructure, showing a trend and potential of expansion on digital financial services to the unbanked customers. We believe that DMI Finance has been building up a robust and distinguished business model with external partnership based on the power of its cutting-edge technologies," said Masashige Nakazono, managing director, head of global commercial banking planning division of MUFG Bank.