India start-up financier GetVantage raises $36m

The round – which comprised a mixture of equity and debt – also featured Sony Innovation Fund, InCred Capital, and a family office set up by the founders of Haldiram Food International.

Chiratae and Dream Incubator are both existing investors, having participated in a USD 5m seed round in October 2020 alongside several non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and debt funds. Again, the company received equity and debt. According to AVCJ Research, another round closed earlier the same year led by Venture Catalysts and Samyakth Capital.

GetVantage was founded in 2019 by Bhavik Vasa and Amit Srivastava. Both have backgrounds in angel investment and financial technology, with Vasa previously spending seven years as chief growth officer at digital payments start-up ItzCash, which was sold to US-based Ebix in 2017.

The company supports founders that cannot raise equity funding or do not want to dilute their ownership positions. It also offers business insight and optimisation tools as well as access to an ecosystem of partners and mentors.

Vasa told TechCrunch he was inspired by seeing media companies provide advertising in return for equity interests in start-ups. He wanted to find a solution to traditional capital raising, which is “complex, cumbersome and simply doesn’t work for all enterprises and business owners.” He added that the VC model is network-driven, leaving many entrepreneurs out in the cold.

GetVantage claims to have provided more than USD 270m in funding to over 350 brands, typically issuing non-dilutive growth capital in increments of INR 500,000 to INR 50m (USD 6,300 to USD 63,000). Clients include haircare specialist Arata, Rage Coffee, men’s health player BoldCare, hot sauce brand Naagin, dairy farm operator SidFarms, and activewear supplier Zymrat.

The new capital will go towards the development of the company’s performance-based financing solution and embedded finance product, technology infrastructure improvements, and growing its portfolio of B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) and subscription-driven products. There are also plans to explore market entry opportunities in Southeast Asia.

“By using data to unlock capital access for SMEs [small and medium-sized enterpises], GetVantage is pioneering a new approach to empowering thousands of e-commerce entrepreneurs to grow their businesses on their terms,” said Aparajit Bhandarkar, a partner at Varanium Nexgen Fund.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Early-stage
• South Asia
• Financials
• India
• Fintech
• Chiratae Ventures
• Sony Innovation Fund