BackBharatPe raises Rs50 crore in debt from Northern Arc
The New Delhi-based startup looks to disburse close to Rs14,000 crore worth of loans to small and medium enterprises, over the next two fiscal years
PremiumBENGALURU : Lending and digital payments startup, BharatPe, on Monday said that it has raised Rs50 crore (or $7 million) as debt funding from non-banking financial company (NBFC) Northern Arc Capital, in a bid to bolster its credit operations.
The New Delhi-based startup looks to disburse close to Rs14,000 crore worth of loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), over the next two fiscal years.
BharatPe had raised Rs200 crore as venture debt in January 2021 from Alteria Capital, InnoVen and Trifecta Capital. The company had later raised additional debt capital from ICICI and Axis Bank.
BharatPe has facilitated disbursals of over Rs1,600 crore, across 200,000 merchants since the launch of its lending vertical.
“We have considerably ramped up our lending business in the last year and have set an ambitious target of facilitating disbursals to the tune of $1 billion to more than 1 million merchants by the end of current fiscal (FY22). We are excited about our latest capital raise from Northern Arc and are confident that, together, we will be able to transform bharat and serve the needs of the underserved businesses in India," said Suhail Sameer, group president, BharatPe.
Sameer added that the company is now looking to go deeper into the lending vertical and looks to offer newer credit solutions for merchants in the country.
Earlier this year, BharatPe co-founder and chief executive, Ashneer Grover told Mint that the company was looking to enter the secured loans segment and provide merchants with loans against gold and property, as well as automobile loans.
At the start of the year, BharatPe piloted its wholesaler financing product ‘BharatPe DtoR’, which stands for distributor to retailer, while looking to underwrite wholesalers and extend them a credit line, which they can offer to their end-retail partners.
The company was also planning to raise $200 million debt from banks and other institutions this year, Grover said earlier.
“Northern Arc has continually worked towards extending credit to like-minded organizations such as BharatPe that enable financial access to small businesses and merchants across the country," said Bama Balakrishnan, chief operating officer, Northern Arc.
Northern Arc claims to have disbursed over Rs3,500 crore over the last financial year to SMEs, households, financial institutions and mid-market corporates.
In February, BharatPe raised close to $108 million in series D primary and secondary equity funding led by existing investor New York-headquartered hedge fund Coatue Management at a valuation of $900 million.
The startup has also teamed up with Centrum Group to submit a joint expression of interest to the Reserve Bank of India to take over the distressed assets of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.
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