Bangalore-based Minions Ventures Pvt Ltd, which runs invoice discounting platform KredX, has raised $750,000 (around Rs 5 crore) in funding from Prime Venture Partners.
KredX, earlier known as Mandii, connects credit-worthy micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to individual financiers.
A form of short-term borrowing, invoice discounting allows a firm to draw money against its sales invoices before the customer has actually paid.
“Invoice discounting is a lifeline to SMEs but has never been organised and democratised. KredX will organize this largely unstructured market using technology, data and statistics,†Manish Kumar, co-founder and CEO, KredX, said in a statement.
NBFCs have been increasingly filling up the credit void created by banks’ reluctance to lend to small enterprises. A number of fin-tech startups have come up offering solutions that make it easier for micro and small businesses to raise capital. In March this year, Chennai-based Veritas Finance Pvt Ltd, which provides financial services to micro and small enterprises, raised about $4.5 million in a Series A round of funding led by Sarva Capital LLC. In July 2015, Lendingkart Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs online financing portal for entrepreneurs and small businesses Lendingkart.com, raised $10 million in Series A round co-led by Saama Capital and Mayfield. Bestdealfinance.com, an online marketplace that provides loan fulfillment services for individuals and SMEs, secured $3 million in Series A funding led by Kalaari Capital in September 2015.
KredX was co-founded by IIT and Stanford alumni Manish Kumar, Anurag Jain and Puneet Agarwal in 2015.
KredX has developed a proprietary credit risk assessment model for borrowers and technology platform. For financiers, KredX provides complete trade services from sourcing curated invoices to conducting due diligence using its proprietary credit underwriting algorithms.
The company claims to have processed over 1000 invoices (with values of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore) since its soft launch and is now launching its service commercially.
Led by serial entrepreneurs Sanjay Swamy, Shripati Acharya and Amit Somani. Prime Venture Partners has invested in a number of startups including ZipDial – which was later acquired by Twitter, Ezetap, SmartOwner, Synup, HackerEarth, happay and Nimble Wireless.
It had recently invested in LoveCycles, a women’s health tracker focused on menstrual cycles and associated symptoms.