Latest news with #Fundamentum
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Flexiloans raises another Rs 375 crore from Fundamentum, Accion and others
New-age non-banking finance company Flexiloans has raised Rs 375 crore in a mix of primary and secondary capital to fuel its expansion plan. The funding was led by existing investors Nandan Nilekani 's Fundamentum, US-based impact investor Accion Digital Transformation, American asset management firm Nuveen, and Denmark-based asset management major Maj Invest. 'Through this round, we have given exits to the high networth individuals who had invested in the company in 2017. Most of our existing institutional investors have doubled down in the company,' said Deepak Jain, a cofounder of Flexiloans. Jain did not comment on the valuation at which this round was closed. UK's development finance firm British International Investment was the new investor. Sanjay Nayyar-backed Flexiloans, founded in 2016 in Mumbai, focuses on small businesses, offering them term loans and working capital. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories The funding round comes on the back of a Rs 290-crore infusion in October 2024. ET had reported then that the round had pushed Flexiloans' valuation to $140 million. While the October round was all primary capital, this round had a significant secondary component. This comes at a time when the MSME-focused lending opportunity in the country has opened following heightened regulatory scrutiny in unsecured consumer loans. Jain said that despite the headwinds that the sector has faced, Flexiloans has managed to report three years of profitability, which helped the company raise funding even at a time when equity infusion has been hard for lending fintechs. Flexiloans closed FY24 with total revenue of Rs 263 crore and a net profit of Rs 3 crore. The company is yet to file its FY25 financials. Backed by its own NBFC Epimoney, Flexiloans has built a book worth Rs 2,300 crore. Jain said about 50% of the assets under management (AUM) sits on its own books and the rest is with partner lenders. Flexiloans sources business from ecommerce portals and food delivery platforms by financing sellers on these platforms. It also uses digital marketing to get leads on its own website. The startup also works with online marketplaces such as Paisabazaar . 'We will scale up our products with a target of achieving Rs 3,500 to 4,000 crore in AUM by FY2026,' Jain said. Eventually, the target for the company is to achieve the Rs 5,000-crore milestone in the next 18 to 24 months. While the startup offers unsecured business loans, its plan is to expand into secured lending, launch new credit products like dealer and vendor financing, and get into insurance distribution as well. Jain said the management is planning to apply for a corporate agent licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. Also Read: Flexiloans secures Rs 290 crore in funding from Accion, Fundamentum, others
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Flexiloans to expand lending offerings, enter insurance following ₹665 crore funding
MSME lending player Flexiloans is planning to enter two new lending segments while also diversifying into insurance for its customers and is actively looking for acquisitions to support these multiple forays, a top executive of the firm told Mint. This comes as Flexiloans raised more funds in an extended series C round totalling ₹665 crore from existing investors Fundamentum, Accion Digital Transformation, Nuveen, and Maj Invest, with new investor British International Investment joining the round. Also read: Diderot's Curse and the BNPL Trap: Why India's middle class may be walking into a debt crisis 'We are looking at areas where we want to build up new products or new offerings for acquiring a larger share of wallet from these MSMEs," said Deepak Jain, co-founder and CEO, Flexiloans, in an interaction with Mint. 'We're aggressively and actively looking for (inorganic) opportunities." In this round, the firm has raised ₹375 crore, with the intention to grow its assets under management (AUM) to ₹4,000 crore from ₹2,000 crore, within the next year. 'This funding should support our growth for the next 18 to 24 months, by which time we aim to reach ₹5,000-6,000 crore in AUM." In September, the company raised ₹290 crore from investors in its first phase of Series C funding. Jain added that a significant majority of the investment is primary fundraise, while the rest is secondary funding, where all early investors have made partial exits. Also read: RBI rate cut impact: Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank reduce lending rate by up to 50 bps, 10 bps 'We will definitely be launching dealer financing and secured financing products over the next 12 to 18 months," he said. Currently, almost 90% of its revenue comes from two existing offerings of equated monthly instalments (EMI) based term loans and vendor financing within the supply chain. In addition, Flexiloans also plans to enter into offering insurance products to its existing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) customer base. 'Today, lending is our core product for MSMEs," the executive said. 'But the plan is to start cross-selling other financial services, such as insurance and similar offerings." He explained that the company has already begun work on this expansion. 'We're looking at multiple insurance segments—life, general, and others. The idea is to build a full financial services suite around MSMEs." Founded in 2016 by Jain and co-founders Ritesh Jain and Manish Lunia, FlexiLoans enables small businesses to access financing, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. To date, the company has raised a total of ₹746 crore in equity and over ₹2,000 crore in debt. Also read: Should you lock your FD before banks cut their interest rates? These 6 lenders offer highest rates on fixed deposits Prior to this round, the company raised capital from Sanjay and Falguni Nayar, MAJ Invest, and Fasanara Capital, along with other prominent family offices of erstwhile bankers. The firm claims to have empowered over 50,000 MSMEs, with about 66% of customers in Tier 2, 3 cities and beyond. On the initial public offering (IPO) outlook, he added, 'Will we go for an IPO in the next round? Unlikely. We're more likely to work with sovereign and endowment funds. Once we hit ₹8,000-10,000 crore in AUM and achieve double-digit ROEs (Return on Equity), that's when we'll consider the public markets."
