Digital debt financing platform Northern Arc Capital said on Thursday it has launched an alternative investment platform AltiFi for individual investors.
The non-bank lender said through the platform it targets to bridge the gap in access to alternative investment assets and enable individual investors to make direct debt investments.
The platform offers a range of debt papers including bonds, securitised instruments, and alternative investment funds’ units, Northern Arc Capital said.
“AltiFi is our attempt to offer unique debt investment opportunities to individual investors and family offices. Through AltiFi, investors will have access to a diverse range of debt products in emerging sectors that were hitherto available only to institutions so far,” Bama Balakrishnan, COO of Northern Arc, said.
“In India, debt investment opportunities are not accessible like the way listed equity is, and many investors who can potentially subscribe to these debt papers are either not aware of it or don’t know where to buy it from. We aim to change that with AltiFi,” Balakrishnan said.
Chennai-based Northern Arc Capital (formerly IFMR Capital Finance) is a digital debt platform that caters to the under-banked in India.
In May, Northern Arc Capital and other lenders invested Rs 165 crore debt funding in credit and payment startup Slice during financial year 2020-21.
It also invested Rs 50 crore in payments and financial services startup BharatPe.
In April, it received Rs 40 crore debt financing from mid-sized private-sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank to support pandemic-hit micro-entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The platform is backed by marquee private equity players like Leapfrog, IIFL, Accion, Augusta Investments, Dvara Trust, Eight Roads, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and previously by Standard Chartered Private Equity.