India's demonetization of the Rs 500 ($7.32) and Rs 1,000 ($14.65) continues to help online alternative finance lenders; uncertain investors are increasingly utilizing alternative finance platforms as a safer investment over gold, real estate and the stock market; invoice financing platform KredX has reported investment increases of 400% to 500%; with less of a cash focused society, P2P lenders Capital Float, Faircent, i-lend and AnyTimeLoan.in have also reported significantly higher platform investments. Source
News Roundup
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Prime Minister Modi's plan to demonetize has put a lot of strain on much of Indian society, now the ICICI Bank is looking to ease that burden by helping to make 100 villages cashless in 100 days; the plan was born out of a successful program that made one village cashless in 2015; the 100 villages will be spread throughout the country and will help 10,000 people overall; local people will be able to use their mobile phones to transact with merchants and banks. Source
Indian online multi-lender Indifi has raised $10 million in a Series B funding round led by Omidyar Network; the multi-lender specializes in connecting micro, small and medium-sized businesses with a network of lending institutions; the firm intends to use the funds for expanding and improving its products and technology. Source
The Indian online lending platform has closed a $10 million debt funding deal with investment from Kotak Mahindra Bank, Aditya Birla Financial Services and other financial institutions; follows other recent capital investments; firm plans to use the funds to support its loan book and expand to 700 cities; its platform originates loans ranging from Rs 1 lakh ($1,570) to Rs 40 lakh ($62,817) with interest rates of 16% to 24% and provides loan funds within three days. Source
Business marketplace lender Loan Frame has announced a $2.25 million fundraise that will help the firm expand its business in India as demonetization and the Indian economy present new opportunities for growth; participants in the $2.25 million funding round included the co-founder of Vedanta Capital, the former chairman of Visa International and the co-chief executive of MIO Partners; the platform has stated it is seeking to build the largest small and medium-sized business lending marketplace in the sub-continent; expects to lend $150 million over the next two years with both secured and unsecured loans. Source
Indian banks are working with fintech startups to develop technology similar to what is used in markets like Africa and China; the banks hope to use social data and online shopping habits to underwrite borrowers; FICO recently began to offer credit scores in India using alternative data and there are many startups working on similar efforts. Source
The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India recently said at an event that currently there are different regulations for various categories of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) which could lead to regulatory arbitrage, and that the central bank is moving in the direction of harmonizing some of the regulations, and they will get clarity on this sooner than later. Source
The CEO of NITI Aayog, a policy think tank of the Indian...
Perfios is an Indian fintech startup that has developed software products that help digital lenders, banks and financial institutions to analyze client data; the software can help reduce application times for loans, credit cards and insurance policies; the firm's $6.1 million fundraising was provided by New York-based venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners. Source
The Series C round was led by Ribbit Capital; SAIF Partners, Sequoia India and Creation Investments Capital Management also participated; the company plans to expand lending, invest in products/technology and widen their geographical footprint; Capital Float will focus on loans to small merchants and kirana store owners; the company has raised $87 million and has about 15,000 customers in e-commerce, traditional retail, manufacturing as well as services businesses. Source