AbleCredit secures $1.25m in seed funding led by Merak Ventures

By Gloria Mathias

AbleCredit, an AI credit underwriting company, has raised $1.25 million (INR 10 crore) in its seed funding round from Merak Ventures, a sector-agnostic early-stage venture capital (VC) firm.

The seed round was led by Merak Ventures, with participation from Venture Catalysts and Helios Holdings (Suraj Nalin).

There is a credit gap of INR 25 trillion in India alone, which is mostly caused by a shortage of qualified underwriters and an overall high underwriting cost. Using AI products and solutions, AbleCredit is on a mission to close the credit gap in emerging nations. The startup is developing Generative AI models with voice, vision, and language capabilities that function like an AI assistant to the credit team. It can generate comprehensive credit reports on a case-by-case basis while adhering to the credit policy and guidelines.

The investment from Merak Ventures will enable the startup to scale its AI operations and expand its business.

Manu Rikhye, Partner at Merak Ventures, said, “Credit underwriting, historically a time-consuming process in loan disbursement, is ripe for transformation with recent advancements in AI. AbleCredit’s innovative tools promise unprecedented speed and efficiency in underwriting, empowering companies to make decisions faster and more effectively. At Merak Ventures, we are committed to championing such impactful solutions for real-world challenges.”

Utkarsh Apoorva, Harshad Saykhedkar, Ashwini Prabhu, and Anubhab Bandyopadhyay form the co-founding team behind AbleCredit. Utkarsh, the CEO, boasts a track record as a serial entrepreneur. Harshad, as Chief AI Officer, brings over 13 years of expertise to the table. Meanwhile, Ashwini serves as the CPO and Anubhab as the CTO, leveraging their collective experience in developing products.

“Emerging economies are facing a significant credit gap in the MSME sector, leading to unemployment and economic barriers. At AbleCredit, our AI system leverages voice, vision, and language capabilities to extend credit analysis into traditionally overlooked sectors. This approach enables us to serve a wide range of industries by analysing alternative data sources to produce comprehensive credit assessments. We’re thrilled to announce our new funding round and to welcome Merak Ventures, who support our mission to bridge economic disparities and enhance financial well-being.” said Utkarsh Apoorva, co-founder and CEO of AbleCredit.