IndyFint Pvt. Ltd, a virtual banking startup founded by former Infosys executive Paddy Padmanabhan and serial entrepreneur Rajiv Kuchhal, said on Thursday it has raised $2.1 million (Rs 15 crore) in its Series A funding round.
The investment was led by Saravanan Adiseshan, co-founder of semiconductor supplier SJ Associates, IndyFint said in a statement. Adiseshan will join the board of the startup as part of the transaction.
The Bengaluru-based startup, which was launched in October this year, will use the funds for expansion and to accelerate its product development.
IndyFint is building a marketplace to help lenders provide short-term loans to merchants, employees and students. The startup said it leverages its technology platform for sourcing, due-diligence and evaluating borrowers.
Padmanabhan, chairman at IndyFint, said the company aims to lend to more than a million users in the coming 12 to 18 months as it seeks to push for financial inclusion in the country.
“With unorganised lending being upwards of $130 billion a year in India, there needs to be concerted effort to provide timely and affordable credit to millions of users,” he added.
There has been heightened interest in the financial technology segment over the past few years. According to a VCCircle survey, 50% of the respondents said they favoured the fintech segment this year.
In one of the biggest funding rounds for a fintech venture this year, FreeCharge founder Kunal Shah’s Cred raised $120 million (Rs 862 crore) in August.
Earlier this month, VCCircle reported that Singapore-based family office RB Investments had invested in a Mumbai-based automotive fintech venture.
Several other fintech firms such as BharatPe, Open, NiYO Solutions, INDwealth, OfBusiness, OkCredit and Razorpay have also raised significant venture capital money in the past few months.
