[Funding alert] True Balance raises $30M in debt from India, South Korea investors for financial arm

True Credits, an NBFC and an affiliate of an RBI-authorised lending company, True Balance, operated by Balancehero India Private Limited, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Balancehero Co Ltd Korea, on Tuesday announced a debt fundraise of $30 million from investors across India and Korea. The third round took the total debt raised to $55 million in FY2021.

This third round of investment has come from a mix of new and existing investors, namely, Northern Arc, Arthmate, Shine Star, E clear and Hinduja, and other Korean investors to support the company’s growth in India. The Seoul and Gurugram-headquartered fintech has disbursed loans over Rs 600 crore in this calendar year to India’s financially deprived and excluded, through its licensed NBFC subsidiary – True Credits Private Limited. 

True Balance's next-generation financial platform claims to make it a one-stop-shop for all financial transactions and lending solutions. The company sees over 10 lakh transactions per month on its platform for various financial services, loan being the primary contributor. Also, armed with an RBI license and PPI license, True Balance has aggressively expanded its portfolio to low-income citizenry making ‘finance available for all’. 

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The company’s loan book has grown at 2,500 percent in CY2021 for small-ticket size products — the key product focused towards new-to-credit users, Level Up Loan. The firm intends to cater to customers within the monthly income bracket of Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000. True Balance disburses about 7,000 loans a day, with ticket sizes starting as low as Rs 1,000 and going up to Rs 50,000.

Having seen growth between 30-50 percent month-on-month at a consistent pace, True Balance aims to achieve break-even before the end of this financial year.

Vishal Bhatia, Chief Financial Officer, True Balance said, 

“Our resolve to make finance available for all, gets strengthened with each round of debt fund we raise. The pandemic has brought out the major gap which highlights how the traditional banking system has not been able to fulfill the credit needs of many Indian users. True Balance aims to be the one-stop-solution and financial partner for the new to credit users.”

Bama Balakrishnan, COO at Northern Arc Capital, added, 

“We are happy to partner with True Balance as we see tremendous potential in the market that they cater. We see alignment in True Balance's approach of using a digital and data-driven approach to expand access to credit and include under-served customers. We look forward to partnering with True Balance in their journey of financial inclusion, especially for the emerging customer segments.”

The company had previously raised Series D funding of $28 million from SoftBank Ventures Asia, Line Ventures Corporation, D3 Jubilee Partners, and a host of other global investors towards the end of last calendar year, taking total equity funding to $85 million.