[Funding alert] Venture Catalyst invests $2M in SME credit marketplace CreditEnable

Indian incubator and accelerator, Venture Catalysts, invested $2 million in SME credit marketplace, CreditEnable, along with its UK arm, JPIN Venture Catalysts Ltd.

The funds will be used in expanding the company's user base and developing its technology platform.

CreditEnable is a UK-headquartered company founded by Nadia Sood, CEO and Co-founder, and Varun Sahni, CFO and Co-founder. The company has been operating in India since 2017.

Access to finance is a well-known predicament faced by Indian SMEs. CreditEnable uses technologies like artificial intelligence and data analytics to procure and process loans for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These solutions aim to make access to finance feasible for small and medium business owners.

Commenting on the fundraise, Nadia said, "We are delighted that Venture Catalysts has decided to back our growth. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digitisation within financial services. Getting affordable finance into the SME segment at scale is going to be critical to our global economic recovery, and we are thrilled to have Venture Catalysts' support to help us to scale our reach in India."

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According to MEDICI India FinTech Report 2020- Second Edition, fintech investments touched $1.47 billion between January and June in 2020, a 60 percent increase over the corresponding period in 2019. 

Highlighting the scope of the fintech segment in India, Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder and President of Venture Catalysts said, "CreditEnable has enormous potential and has built a technology platform that is scalable across multiple geographies. We have invested in a number of unicorn companies at their very early stage and CreditEnable has this potential. The firm is well-equipped to optimise resources and solve for the most relevant gaps in the Indian market, especially in the current, pandemic environment when the demand for business loans is expected to increase.”

CreditEnable has more than 20 banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), financial institutions etc as part of its lending clientele. This also includes IDFC First Bank, ICICI, Bajaj, Deutsche Bank, DBS, among others.