Lightstone leads $50m Series B for Indian debt marketplace
LGT Lightstone Aspada has led a $50 million Series B round for Vivriti Capital, which operates CredAvenue, an Indian platform that helps companies raise debt.
Previous investors in Vivriti, a Chennai-based non-banking financial company, include Creation Investments, a US GP that invests in microfinance institutions, small to medium-sized enterprise lenders and financial service providers to low-income communities. Creation provided $44 million across two funding rounds last year, according to AVCJ research.
Launched in 2018, CredAvenue seeks to connect financial institutions and corporates in India with debt investors. By digitizing the debt raising process, the platform seeks to increase access to debt for smaller corporates and financial institutions while reducing inefficiencies in the process. Part of the debt funding facilitated by the platform comes from Vivriti.
CredAvenue claims to have over 2,000 active users. It says it has helped raise debt totaling INR250 billion over the past two years. It has worked with more than 100 investors and an equal number of corporate customers over that period.
While the coronavirus pandemic is expected to lead to stricter criteria when evaluating the credit risk of borrowers, the firm says it hopes to help contribute to debt raising of INR500 billion by the end of the next financial year.
“We believe that the combination of their tech platform and strong product development capabilities brings much needed innovation in the space towards expanding the supply of ‘rightly priced’ debt to high impact businesses,” said Kartik Srivatsa, a managing partner at LGT Lightstone Aspada.
According to co-founder Gaurav Kumar, the maximum size of debt products listed on the platform currently stands at INR200 million. Companies seeking to raise debt in India usually approach non-banking financial companies or banks.
Other Lightstone portfolio companies in the country include scooter rental start-up Vogo, low-income home loans provider Ummeed Housing Finance and fresh food supplier WayCool Foods.
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