American Express Ventures, along with existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, Cyber Carrier VC and AdvantEdge Partners invested in this round

Indalends Co-founders Mayank Kachhwaha (L) and Gaurav Chopra

Indalends Co-founders Mayank Kachhwaha (L) and Gaurav Chopra

IndiaLends.com, a credit underwriting and analytics startup for unsecured lending, has raised US$4 million in Series A funding from American Express Ventures, with participation from existing investors DSG Consumer Partners, Chinese investment firm Cyber Carrier VC and AdvantEdge Partners.

The latest round of funding will be used to expand its credit underwriting and analytics capabilities, offer more consumer-focussed products and increase its market footprint across India.

Started in March 2015 by ex-Capital One duo Gaurav Chopra and Mayank Kachhwaha, IndiaLends is a credit scoring and analytics platform. The startup operates an online marketplace that allows consumers to shop for loan products, as well as access credit scores and financial education.

The marketplace claims to attract over 140,000 visitors every month, and helps them to more quickly get access to cheaper credit. It also provides credit scoring solutions to financial institutions to help them increase their lending footprint.

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“We have witnessed strong traction in the past year with our loan volumes growing 100 per cent quarter-on-quarter,” said Chopra.

“We have partnered with over 30 banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and now offer bespoke lending products in segments that have been historically underserved. The superior quality and quantity of data is helping financial institutions underwrite more and more of our customers. This new round of funding not only gives us the capital to scale exponentially but also provides us access to resources and learnings from developed fintech markets such as the US and China,” Chopra added.

As per a statement, IndiaLends will continue to strengthen its proposition for customers and financial institutions by investing in its superior data analytics capabilities, which allow it to better assess customer segments that currently do not meet traditional scoring parameters.

In October last year, the startup raised US$1M from DSG Consumer Partners. Prior to that, it has received an undisclosed sum led by DSG with particpation from Siddharth Parekh and Gautham Radhakrishnan.

“IndiaLends’ platform is helping to connect lenders and borrowers in India more efficiently by providing a user-friendly experience for consumers and leveraging a broader set of data than has traditionally been available to financial institutions in the market,” said Rohit Bodas, Partner at American Express Ventures.

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“Over the course of last year, we’ve made significant improvements in our data, analytics and technology capabilities. We’re now looking to build on this and have recently introduced products like credit builder loans for first-time borrowers, in partnership with select banks and NBFCs,” said Kachhwaha.


Image Credit: iqoncept / 123RF Stock Photo

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