India’s first Virtual-Banking Startup indyFint debuts in Bangalore, raises $2.1 Mn Series A Investment·
Bangalore: indyFint, a Bangalore based first of its kind virtual-banking startup launched in October 2019 by Paddy Padmanabhan and Rajiv Kuchhal, today announced a $2.1 Mn Series A Investment round led by Saravanan Adiseshan, Co-founder of SJ Associates and the edifice of the highly thriving Allsec group of companies. The founders of the firm – Paddy Padmanabhan, a well-known name in the banking industry and the Chief Architect of Finacle (CBS from Infosys) along with Rajiv Kuchhal, a serial entrepreneur in Bangalore have also invested in their personal capacity in the Series A Investment round. Post this investment round, Saravanan Adiseshan, will be joining on the board. indyFint plans to use the new investment to accelerate product development and drive its market expansion efforts.
indyFint is building a lending market place that would enable lenders to directly offer short-term loans to merchants, employees and students. In a bid to create a pull based credit ecosystem, indyFint is also planning to develop its proprietary machine-learning lending algorithms for “Credit Scoring” basis the transactions of small business entrepreneurs.
Commenting on the occasion, Paddy Padmanabhan, Chairman, indyFint, said, “indyFint is all set to emerge as a leading player in the virtual banking segment. With the 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. We are building a world class technology platform that would play a significant role in providing timely credit. We expect to serve over a million users in the coming 12-18 months. With this we would be able to play our part in furthering financial inclusion in India.”
At a time when risk aversion among banks and bond markets continuing the credit crunch for non-bank lenders, indyFint’s entry as a new-age digital platform is well timed to provide the much needed risk buffer for the lending ecosystem, especially for small ticket loans.
Saravanan Adiseshan, Co-founder of SJ Associates and the edifice of the highly thriving Allsec group of companies, shared, “The Series A funding is a strategic step towards building and enhancing further on indyFint’s technology, brand and innovative customer-centric business models. With indyFint’s unique solution providing capabilities in the digital lending space, the company is well-poised to reach a growth of 10X by the end of 2020. With its innovative offerings, indyFint would be able to have a significant play in the micro-finance segment.”
Rajiv Kuchhal, Director, indyFint, said, “We are happy that indyFint has successfully achieved all of its milestones ever since inception. The team’s leadership depth, domain knowledge to excel and immense consumer obsession has reaffirmed our faith in the vision of company.”
The virtual banking startup leverages its technology platform for sourcing, due-diligence, and evaluating borrowers. The company uses an algorithm to analyze payments history, along with alternative data sources for originating loans.