$108B Tata Capital partners with SME lending platform Biz2Credit

On Monday, Tata Capital, flagship financial services of Tata group announced its partnership with Biz2Credit, an online lending resource and platform for small and medium-enterprises (SMEs). The partnership will make Biz2Credit’s lending channels available to Tata Capital, while giving the former access to funds.

The alliance will also give the Tata Sons subsidiary, which has a book size of over Rs 42,000 Cr, access to full range of Biz2Credit’s products. This also includes their patented data and risk analytics tool, BizAnalyzer Score.

According to Govind Sankarnarayanan, COO, Retail Business and Housing Finance, Tata Capital, the lack of organized credit to small business owners is a gap in the Indian financial market today and an inhibiting factor for growth of entrepreneurship in India.

Started in 2007, Biz2Credit claims to have arranged more than $1.3 billion in small business financing for working capital, commercial real estate and other uses. It essentially works as a matchmaking platform, connecting borrowers to financial institutions using its proprietary technology, with each company having a unique profile. It also has its own monthly ‘Small Business Lending Index’ which talks about loan approval rates at big banks and institutional lenders

Backed by Nexus Venture Partners, the company claims to fund from $5,000 to $5 million, coordinating the capital within 24 hours. This is the second partnership for the firm in the month. Earlier, the company has partnered with Advantage Funding, a transportation finance firm in the US providing equipment financing and leasing solutions. Biz2Credit has also partnered with tax preparation and filing solution company TaxAct and business management platform Webiquity, in November 2015.

While this seems like one of the biggest partnership for Biz2Credit in India, the partnership just strengthens the digital and technology strength for Tata Capital, giving a perfect avenue for both the entities to invest in India and US. In March 2016, Tata Capital proposed to raise Rs 300 crores from debentures to fund its growth.

Website: www.biz2credit.in