 "Alok Mittal returns as entrepreneur, launches platform for SMB lending")
Alok Mittal, former India head of venture capital firm Canaan Partners, has turned entrepreneur again. He has launched Indifi Technologies, a platform for lending to small medium businesses (SMBs) that aims to streamline credit assessment through automated data collection, processing and analysis.
A marketplace for lenders and SMB borrowers, Indifi aims to improve the experience of borrowers with faster approvals and reduce cost for lenders. "There is a $380-billion debt financing gap in India's SMB segment. Proliferation of data in this space has created a unique opportunity to address the gap," said Alok Mittal, co-founder & CEO of Indifi at a press meet in Delhi. The platform was launched two weeks ago.
Mittal's latest venture is co-founded by Siddharth Mahanot and Sundeep Sahi.
To source deals, Indifi is tying up with anchor partners such as MakeMyTrip and Snapdeal to lend to their vendors. It uses online data such as transaction history of vendors, tax returns, and bank statements to approve loans. Indifi says it has tied up with three anchor partners and two lenders. Besides e-sellers, it is targeting cab drivers, travel agents and other such un-banked segments.
Indifi has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Accel Partners (early investor in Flipkart), Elevar Equity (backed companies such as Ujjivan and small business lender Vistaar) and several angel investors including Google India's Rajan Anandan; Gaurav Dalmia, managing partner of GTI Capital; Abhishek Goyal, founder, Tracxn; Gagan Hasteer, director of engineering, Netflix; Arun Tadanki, entrepreneur and former Yahoo Southeast Asia & India head. The company has also roped in Pramod Bhasin, former president & CEO of Genpact, as an investor and advisor.
Mittal had earlier co-founded JobsAhead.com before it was acquired by Monster.com in 2004. Canaan sold its India portfolio to J P Morgan Asset Management.
