[Funding alert] Trade finance startup Vayana Network raises Rs 283Cr in Series C funding
The supply chain finance platform raised funding from a host of investors including Chiratae Ventures, Jungle Ventures, March Capital, and CDC group, among others.
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Trade finance platform said it has raised Rs 283 crore in a Series C funding round led by , CDC Group, Jungle Ventures, March Capital, Marshall Wace, and some family offices in India and abroad.
Founded in 2017, Vayana is a B2B trade financial intermediary, which connects SMEs and corporates with financial institutions for low-cost access to trade loans. The company claims to have so far facilitated $8 billion in loans to over 22,000 MSMEs, for over 1,000 supply chains across 25 different sectors.
"We have strongly believed that every segment of the supply chain and for every type of trade, there needs to be a relevant product that allows the business to grow sustainably. Given our strong presence in credit enabling infrastructure such as GST and e-invoicing coupled with the launch of our Good Business Score (GBS), we have managed to reach the smallest of businesses, connecting them to the largest lenders," said Ram Iyer, founder and CEO of Vayana in a press release.
Vayana's compliance business holds over 20 percent of the marketshare in e-invoicing in India and helps businesses lower their credit costs by over 50 percent, the company said.
It makes most of its money by charging borrowers a nominal annual fee and taking a cut of the interest rates banks charge traders. It claims its USP is its cheap interest rates, and it’s those low rates that have helped it retain customers for so long.
"Across the globe and especially in India, MSMEs play the crucial role of being growth engines of an economy; despite which they suffer from delayed payments and lack of access to low-cost formal sources of finance," said TC Meenakshi Sundaram, managing director and Co-founder of Chiratae Ventures.
"Vayana not only facilitates access but has worked towards making MSMEs credit ready through its GST compliance and analytics business," she added.
The startup is currently present in the US, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, and planning to expand to more countries soon.
It raised $4 million in its Series A round, from investors including Jungle Ventures and Chiratae Ventures.