True Balance raises USD 30m in debt for True Credits

By Leandra Monteiro

True Credits, the NBFC and an affiliate of an RBI-authorised lending company, True Balance platform announced a debt fundraise of 30 million USD from investors across India and Korea, taking the total debt fundraised to 55 million USD in FY2021.

This third round of investment has come from the 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 & Gurugram-based FinTech has disbursed loans over INR 6 billion in this calendar year to India’s financially deprived and excluded, through its licensed NBFC subsidiary – True Credits Private Limited.

Having seen tremendous growth between 30-50% Month-on-Month at a consistent pace, True Balance aims to achieve break-even before the end of this financial year. While the pandemic caused a severe dent to the prospect of financial inclusion, the company with its proprietary alternative credit scoring system (ACS) and machine learning-based underwriting models has supported NTC and low-credit score users in getting access to liquidity.

Speaking on the latest round of fundraise, 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.”

Commenting on the fundraise, Bama Balakrishnan, COO at Northern Arc Capital said, “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 entity had previously raised Series D funding of USD 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 USD 85 million.