Lendingkart Finance, a digital lending platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India, has raised US $7.8 million (INR 50 crore) in debt funding from YES Bank, India’s 4th largest private sector bank.

The funds will be utilised to further build the loan book as Lendingkart expands its reach to SMEs operating in Tier 3 and smaller cities facing lack of formal credit facilities.

The latest funding comes exactly a year after the fintech company raised US $32 million in Series B financing in June last year. This round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments, with participation from Darrin Capital Management and existing investors Mayfield India, Saama Capital and India Quotient.

“At Lendingkart, we expand our reach to meet the growing needs of millions of small businesses in the country. YES Bank is a dynamic and innovative institution with sound knowledge of the Indian financial sector while also undertaking substantial work towards promoting fintech in the country,” said Co-founder and CEO Harshvardhan Lunia.

Founded in 2014 by ISB Hyderabad alumnus Lunia and IIM Bangalore alumnus Mukul Sachan, Lendingkart has built a technology platform to service the working capital financing needs of SMEs in India.

Lendingkart Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lendingkart Group, has developed technology tools based on Big Data analytics that facilitate lenders to evaluate borrower’s credit worthiness. Over 4,000 data variables are assessed to determine the financial health, comparative market performance, social reliability and compliance to statutory requirements for determining the credit worthiness of borrowers. Once the evaluation process is completed, loan amount is disbursed to the deserving borrower within 72 hours from the time of application.

To date, the company claims to have disbursed more than 11,000 loans to over 7,500 SMEs present across India. Lendingkart Finance has expanded its operations pan India and is present in over 650 cities across 29 states and seven Union Territories.

The firm has offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Last December, Indifi Technologies, a Gurgaon-based fintech startup that leverages technology to simplify the small business loan process, raised a US $10 million Series B led by Omidyar Network.

Source: e27