[Funding alert] ZipLoan raises Rs 15 Cr in debt round led by Stride Ventures

Stride Ventures, a venture debt fund firm, has led a debt round of Rs 15 crore in ziploan, a fintech lending platform that provides loans to MSMEs.

According to a statement from Stride Ventures, this is its first foray into fintech lending and the funding will be disbursed across two tranches. The firm believes this funding underlines its commitment to leverage traditional banking capital to cater to the startup ecosystem.

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ZipLoan caters to the need of working capital loans for kirana stores and micro-industries. Its proprietary ZipScore platform, that tests creditworthiness of a borrower, has so far helped it maintain its non-performing assets (NPA) at under 3 percent, according to the statement.

On the funding, Ishpreet Gandhi, Founder and Managing Partner, Stride Ventures, said, “It is our endeavour at Stride to make credit accessible and efficient as we try to prevent equity dilution and make entrepreneurs truly ‘Atmanirbhar’. The company has exhibited tremendous growth without compromising the quality of the loan book. We are confident that the company will continue to scale even in these challenging times.”

Stride Ventures launched its maiden fund in 2019 with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore and plans to invest in 35-40 startups over the next three years.

Kshitij Puri, Co-founder and CEO, ZipLoan, said, “The MSME segment is the most important contributor to our economy, but still continues to be credit starved. Even during the current crisis, the MSME segment has shown great resilience demonstrated by strong collections we have had.”

Founded in 2015 by Kshitij Puri and Shalabh Singhal with its headquarters in Delhi, this startup has also raised equity funding from the likes of Matrix Partners, Innoven Capital, and SAIF Partners among others.

Ziploan has disbursed around Rs 400 crore across 10,000 borrowers till now. The startup is present in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Dehradun.