 "Digital finance firm Capital Float raises $13 mn")
Bangalore-based digital finance company Capital Float, which provides working capital loans to small businesses in India, on Wednesday said it has raised $13 million (about Rs 80 crore) from a group of investors led by SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital, along with participation from its existing investor Aspada.
Capital Float that provides loans via a technology-led loan origination and credit underwriting platform, said will utilise the funding to expand its product portfolio and scale up presence. "This round of funding will help expand Capital Float's industry-changing technology, enabling it to scale up nationally and launch new loan products," the company said in a statement.
It had raised a $4 million seed round in mid-2014 from Aspada and SAIF, bringing the total capital raised thus far to Rs 100 crore in this fiscal.
Capital Float was founded in 2013 by Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja. It claims to have created a proprietary technology platform to evaluate the financial health of SMEs and efficiently deliver working capital to a segment that is underserved by traditional banks, the company said.
According to a statement, the company has delivered nearly Rs 40 crore in loans to SMEs across over 10 cities in India to date. It has partnered with leading marketplaces such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Amazon, PayTM and Myntra to finance small merchants selling online.
"Over the past year, we've focused on building the platform to deliver what our customers want above all else - flexible and ultra-convenient access to finance that can scale with their business. By leveraging alternative data in our underwriting model, we are increasingly able to not only make faster decisions but also lend to emerging business models," said co-founders Gaurav Hinduja and Sashank Rishyasringa.