4 FinTech firms providing collateral free loans to women entrepreneurs

By Leandra Monteiro

Financial independence ensures financial security. However, the relationship between women and finances has remained tricky, at least in India, as society expects men in the family to take charge of the finances. This leads women to largely stay away from making any major financial decisions. While more and more women in India have started working, at times they still continue to struggle financially, especially in terms of setting up a business.

However, FinTech companies have bridged this gap by specifically offering financial assistance to women, in the form of loans. Several FinTech platforms have introduced various loan schemes that cater to this emerging segment as women-focused financial platforms have become the need of the hour. Here are few top lending platforms that aim to financially empower women:

Eko

Eko, one of the fastest-growing FinTech platforms in India, empowers a generation of ambitious entrepreneurs to improve their financial health and access to the global economy. Eko helps small entrepreneurs discover earning opportunities, tools for digitization and first-time access to credit – each tailored to meet their needs.

Eko has forayed into the lending ecosystem by creating the ‘first time credit’ module for sellers. It strives to help them overcome such challenges by collaborating with NBFCs and P2P lending organizations. By dispensing $1 billion of loans with flexible repayments infrastructure the company wants to provide affordable capital and AI-backed services to MSMEs, allowing them to instil digital transformation within their operations.

The platform uses the ‘micro-credit approach’ in its services and designs them to fulfil the same. Its daily repayment infrastructure capability allows sellers to repay loans daily in part or full. They can use this credit to boost their business and serve more customers using Eko’s platform or outside of it. Their proprietary underwriting model based on transactions done on Eko’s platformoffers credit to sellers and customers who lack a CIBIL score and are not a part of the formal credit system. The model also uses demographic, and engagement data of the sellers to drive efficient results.

Indifi

Indifi Technologies is a Gurgaon-based lending platform, enabling debt financing for small businesses. It aims to substantially improve the experience for borrowers regarding credit access as well as the speed and convenience of the loan process.

Driven by the idea of expanding access to MSME financing in India, Indifi has emerged as an enabler for start-ups and small businesses seeking seamless access to funding. Indifi expands the envelope of formal lending by designing the right-fit credit products for MSMEs, improving the standard of risk assessment, and leveraging the supply chain linkages of MSMEs.

Indifi has recently partnered with Facebook to offer loans to small businesses. The company already provides zero collateral loans to small businesses in the country, but the partnership with Facebook gives it the chance to reach more borrowers in the country. Indifi uses digital processes to do know-your-customer (KYC) checks and verification of companies. The company has a non-banking financial entity (NBFC) of its own, it also partners with private banks to provide loans to SMBs.

Indifi has designed its products such that they suit the use cases dominant in each industry – hence, restaurants may need a short tenure term loan for minor renovations, whereas retailers may need working capital to account for seasonal peaks in business.

Capital Float

Capital Float is one of India’s leading Buy Now Pay Later and credit platforms serving a mix of salaried & self-employed individuals. From offering innovative checkout credit solutions for consumers to financing the business and personal needs of individuals, it is working towards addressing the country’s enormous credit problem.

Powered by rigorous innovation and technological advancements, and with the acquisition of Personal Finance Management App – Walnut in 2018, Capital Float aims to end Indian women’s financial struggles.

Due to decades of informal lending, a large majority of customers, specially women don’t have the necessary formal documentation to be eligible for credit. If they do have the prerequisite documentation, they are often battling the challenges posed by the structural bureaucracy of lending in India. Meanwhile, owing to the massive geographic landscape of the country, several formal lenders are unable to cater to the financial needs of customers in tier 2 and tier 3 towns. This is where Capital Float aims to bridge the gap with its lending services.

LendingKart

Ahmedabad-based FinTech start-up Lendingkart is in the working capital space. The company has developed technology tools based on big data analysis which facilitates lenders to evaluate the credit worthiness of borrowers and provides other related services.

Lendingkart has special MSME loans and SME loans for businesses looking for quick finance in the country. These loans are approved through an online process which helps in speeding up the financial vehicle delivery. Lendingkart also allows several customisations to its financial products that are said to make them ideal for competitive business environments in the present times.

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