India's largest P2P lending company Faircent on Wednesday announced raising of Rs. 25 crore in a high-profile funding round.
The latest funding, led by Incofin Investment Management, saw participation from all of Faircent's existing investors; JM Financial, 3one4 Capital, M&S Partners Pte Ltd, and Aarin Capital.
Moreover, six new investors, including prominent domain leaders such as Incofin IM, Muthoot Fincorp, EIP, Das Capital and Starharbor Asia Pte Ltd. participated in this round of funding.
Gurugram based Faircent will utilise the freshly raised funds towards strengthening the platform's technology and creating greater awareness about P2P lending's significance as a new and highly rewarding asset class.
"These are exciting times for P2P lending in India, and Faircent is here to unleash the power of retail lending. As India's largest platform, being backed by marquee investors, and the fact that the RBI has come out with progressive guidelines for the sector, is a great validation of Faircent's business model. Moreover, with P2P lending, the financial market is all set to witness the creation of a totally new asset class," said founder and CEO, Faircent, Rajat Gandhi.
"We are excited about Faircent's potential to collaborate with the highly underserved small and medium entrepreneurs by offering affordable and transparent financial products," said co-head Asia, Incofin, Aditya Bhandari.
Faircent leverages automation extensively to deliver its unique value proposition and drive an unparalleled user experience for lenders and borrowers.
One such innovative tool offered by the platform is the auto invest feature, a fully-automated feature that matches a lender's investment criteria with the borrower's requirements and automatically sends proposals to the borrower on behalf of the lender, based on pre-selected lending criteria such as loan tenure, amount, and risk profile.
"Among all the other fintech products in the market currently, P2P lending has emerged as the clear winner, offering consumers both an easy and affordable credit option, as well as a high-yield asset class that can easily compete with any traditional investment instrument. With ample regulatory support from RBI, the future of investments and credit lending in India is going to be driven by P2P lending, and Faircent is poised lead this revolution in the future too, much like it has until now," said MD Das Capital, Shinji Kimura and Hiro Mashita of M&S Partners jointly.
India's online P2P lending market attained maturity in 2017, with various factors such as the Reserve Bank of India's guidelines on the sector, the proliferation of digital transactions, the development of financial technologies, and the lack of access to credit contributing to its rise.
The sector's inclusion into a larger regulatory ambit will help steer massive growth and expansion for players, helping them gain greater traction in the mainstream financial market, and strengthening confidence among borrowers and investors.
With P2P lending companies now being regulated as NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies), more and more investors are looking to be a part of this success story.
"Muthoot Fincorp, as part of the Muthoot Pappachan Group, are delighted to invest and partner with this value driven, new-age and forward-looking company and are confident that Faircent can transform the lending landscape in India," said chairman and MD Muthoot Fincorp, Thomas John Muthoot.
Earlier, in May 2016, Faircent had raised series A funding by diluting its 9.8% stake to JM Financial followed by $1.5 funding from BCCL's Brand Capital, in August 2016.
The latest funding, led by Incofin Investment Management, saw participation from all of Faircent's existing investors; JM Financial, 3one4 Capital, M&S Partners Pte Ltd, and Aarin Capital.
Moreover, six new investors, including prominent domain leaders such as Incofin IM, Muthoot Fincorp, EIP, Das Capital and Starharbor Asia Pte Ltd. participated in this round of funding.
Gurugram based Faircent will utilise the freshly raised funds towards strengthening the platform's technology and creating greater awareness about P2P lending's significance as a new and highly rewarding asset class.
"These are exciting times for P2P lending in India, and Faircent is here to unleash the power of retail lending. As India's largest platform, being backed by marquee investors, and the fact that the RBI has come out with progressive guidelines for the sector, is a great validation of Faircent's business model. Moreover, with P2P lending, the financial market is all set to witness the creation of a totally new asset class," said founder and CEO, Faircent, Rajat Gandhi.
"We are excited about Faircent's potential to collaborate with the highly underserved small and medium entrepreneurs by offering affordable and transparent financial products," said co-head Asia, Incofin, Aditya Bhandari.
Faircent leverages automation extensively to deliver its unique value proposition and drive an unparalleled user experience for lenders and borrowers.
One such innovative tool offered by the platform is the auto invest feature, a fully-automated feature that matches a lender's investment criteria with the borrower's requirements and automatically sends proposals to the borrower on behalf of the lender, based on pre-selected lending criteria such as loan tenure, amount, and risk profile.
"Among all the other fintech products in the market currently, P2P lending has emerged as the clear winner, offering consumers both an easy and affordable credit option, as well as a high-yield asset class that can easily compete with any traditional investment instrument. With ample regulatory support from RBI, the future of investments and credit lending in India is going to be driven by P2P lending, and Faircent is poised lead this revolution in the future too, much like it has until now," said MD Das Capital, Shinji Kimura and Hiro Mashita of M&S Partners jointly.
India's online P2P lending market attained maturity in 2017, with various factors such as the Reserve Bank of India's guidelines on the sector, the proliferation of digital transactions, the development of financial technologies, and the lack of access to credit contributing to its rise.
The sector's inclusion into a larger regulatory ambit will help steer massive growth and expansion for players, helping them gain greater traction in the mainstream financial market, and strengthening confidence among borrowers and investors.
With P2P lending companies now being regulated as NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies), more and more investors are looking to be a part of this success story.
"Muthoot Fincorp, as part of the Muthoot Pappachan Group, are delighted to invest and partner with this value driven, new-age and forward-looking company and are confident that Faircent can transform the lending landscape in India," said chairman and MD Muthoot Fincorp, Thomas John Muthoot.
Earlier, in May 2016, Faircent had raised series A funding by diluting its 9.8% stake to JM Financial followed by $1.5 funding from BCCL's Brand Capital, in August 2016.
Faircent's founders[/caption]
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