Bluebear Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which runs education-focused fintech startup Propelld, on Friday said it has secured $35 million (around Rs 262 crore) as a part of its Series B round led by WestBridge Capital.
The fundraise also saw participation from existing investors including Stellaris Venture Partners and India Quotient.
The platform plans to use the fresh funds to boost loan book rapidly in a segment with low credit penetration and also roll out new products for a clutch of verticals across education.
It also eyes to onboard 100-150 employees by next year across technology, business development and collections.
Propelld, set up by IIT Madras alumni Bibhu Prasad Das, Victor Senapaty and Brijesh Samantaray in 2017, enables financing solutions for learners pursuing education programmes at vetted partner institutions. It claims to be a partner with over 550 educational institutes.
"India spends over $90 billion annually in education, however, the financial penetration is still very low. Propelld aims to address this gap and increase education loan accessibility to students through tech-based products. We believe that the platform will become the go-to financial player in the education domain just as we’ve seen strong vertical-focused financial players in other domains like affordable housing, SME lending, consumer durables, etc", said Deepak Ramineedi, Partner, WestBridge Capital.
The startup claims to be currently clocking an annual loan disbursal run rate of Rs 600 crore.
In 2018, Propelld raised $250,000 (around Rs 1.7 crore) in a seed round of funding from Indian Angel Network and its eponymous venture capital fund.
The startup raised Rs 15 crore (around $2.2 million) from early-stage investors Stellaris Venture Partners and India Quotient, among others in 2019.