India SME platform OfBusiness raises $35m Series D
OfBusiness, an Indian smart financing services provider for small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) has received an INR2.5 billion ($35 million) Series D round led by Norwest Venture Partners.
Existing investors Matrix Partners India and Falcon Edge also participated. Matrix and Falcon joined an INR2 billion Series C last year led by Creation Investments with a contribution from Zodius Capital. The company has raised INR15 billion to date across debt and equity.
Founded in 2015, OfBusiness manages an online marketplace that helps SMEs in light to heavy industrial segments source unsecured credit lines while realizing more cost-effective procurement of raw materials. The idea is to provide institutional credit as an alternative to high-cost distributor financing in a way that caters to the cash flow cycles of sectors such as manufacturing or construction. The company claims to be profitable and to have grown fourfold each year since inception.
“We strongly believe that lending is a commodity or will get commoditized in the future. The only way to monetize, engage and create network effects in lending is by adding services that are inherently valuable to the customer while being profitable on a standalone basis for the financier,” Asish Mohapatra, co-founder and CEO of OfBusiness, said in a statement. “We believe that in serving SMEs, we have a huge scale and need awaiting us.”
Norwest has been investing in Indian non-banking financial companies since 2017, when it backed Five Star Business Finance, a business and housing specialist. The firm has also backed the likes of Ess Kay Fincorp and Veritas Finance. There are about 30 million SMEs in India, accounting for 45% of national industrial output.
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