[Funding alert] Pocketly raises undisclosed sum from angel investors and micro VCs

Pocketly, a microlending platform for college students, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding. The marquee angels who led the funding round in personal capacity are Ashneer Grover (Founder, BharatPe), Jaimin Bhatt (CFO, Kotak Bank), Siddharth Somaiya (Founder, Organic Riot), and Gaurang Shetty (CEO, RIIDL). Other investors were micro VCs such as Prophetic Ventures, Dholakiya Ventures, RIIDL, and Scale VC.

The Bengaluru-based moneylending platform was founded by Aarav Bhatia and Navdeesh Ahuja in 2019 with the vision to empower students and young adults by providing them with alternative credit and financial products. Pocketly aims to provide every college student with credit and multiple easy-to-use financial products.   

Talking about the funding, Aarav Bhatia, Co-founder of Pocketly, said,  

“This funding will fuel our mission of providing credit to the deserving young market of India, which cannot access credit through existing traditional financial institutes. We are encouraged to relentlessly pursue our aim to enable the country’s youth with the benefits of easy credit. It is going to help so many students in fulfilling their dream by paying for the tuition fee or extracurricular activities.”

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According to the startup, both the credit facility for students and microlending are unique and least-explored ideas in India. Most financial institutions demand a reasonable credit score for approving any amount of loan and that also ranges higher than what a student may need. However, Pocketly said it helps students build a strong credit profile before they step out in the real world.

“Pocketly is a brilliant company as it brings young Indians into the credit system via micro loans. They use their proprietary algo to keep their NPAs below 2.5 percent. This is extremely disruptive as it helps with the predictability of who will be creditworthy. This data could be extremely beneficial in the future when these customers will need bigger loans for two-wheelers, etc,” added Siddharth Somaiya.

The microlending platform had raised a cheque from 100X.VC as part of the fund’s class 01 portfolio earlier in 2019.  

Ninad Karpe, Partner at 100X.VC, said, 

“It is common how young adults struggle to pay for their basic requirements due to financial constraints. Pocketly is offering a platform that is going to empower the youth by making them financially independent and responsible. Students can further leverage the added benefits offered by the microlending platform.”