[Funding Alert] Small business lender Kinara Capital raises Rs 100 Cr from private equity, impact investors
The Bengaluru-based company will use the funds to help accelerate its growth in new and existing markets. The company also plans to increase its investment in technology to improve customer experience and assess credit decisions at a faster rate.
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Kinara Capital, a lender to small businesses, has raised a funding of Rs 100 crore from private equity and impact investors Gaja Capital, GAWA Capital, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Patamar Capital.
According to a press statement, the funds will be used to help accelerate growth of Kinara Capital in new and existing markets. The company also plans to increase its investment in technology to improve customer experience and assess credit decisions at a faster rate.
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Commenting on the investment, Hardika Shah, Founder and CEO of Kinara Capital, said,
“Impact-focused sustainable growth is at the heart of all that we do to create access to capital for small business entrepreneurs. When committed to transforming lives, we believe in leading by example - we run a profitable organisation that practices integrity, transparency, and treats customers with dignity.”
Founded in 2011, Kinara Capital provides fast and flexible loans of Rs 2-25 lakh without taking collateral from small business entrepreneurs.
Bengaluru-based Kinara Capital is a digital platform and helps to eliminate paperwork and save time for both customers and employees to fast track the credit decision process.
The company will now expand investment in services that refine the customer experience with features such as autopay and auto-disbursement. On the backend, the company will further develop its proprietary machine-learning lending algorithms to fast track financial inclusion for thousands of small business entrepreneurs, it said.
It also offers personalised customer service, where its on-ground field staff provide doorstep service to customers to assist with the application process and communication in latter’s preferred regional language.
With 90 current branches, the company plans to add 20 branches in high-growth locations in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Kinara Capital currently has an employee base of 1,000 employees and plans to fill about 300 more roles this year.