BharatPe raises INR 1 billion in debt from MAS Financial

By Leandra Monteiro

BharatPe, India’s fastest growing FinTech company, announced that it has raised US$ 14 million in debt from MAS Financial Services Private Limited (MAS Financial), one of India’s leading Non-Banking Financial Companies. This is the eighth round of debt fund raised for the company in 2021. BharatPe has raised a total of over US$ 84 million in debt at competitive rates, this calendar year.

BharatPe has been bullish about its lending vertical, having clocked 10x growth in the last financial year. Today, the company is the largest B2B credit provider in the country. In total, it has facilitated disbursals in excess of US$ 400 million in unsecured loans to over 300,000 merchants, since the launch of the product.

BharatPe had previously raised seven rounds of debt financing in 2021, having secured over INR 5 billion from top venture debt funds (Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital and Trifecta Capital), banks (ICICI Bank and Axis Bank), NBFCs (Northern Arc Capital) and wealth management companies (IIFL Wealth & Asset Management) in the earlier rounds. The company is on track to meet its debt raise targets for FY22.

Commenting on the debt fund raise, Suhail Sameer, Chief Executive Officer, BharatPe said, “As per industry reports, there is close to US$ 400 bn addressable SME lending opportunity in India. BharatPe is committed to address this credit gap for small merchants and kirana store owners in India with its compelling lending products for offline merchants. Our recent debt raises will give us the raw material to build our merchant lending vertical more aggressively. BharatPe is one of  the largest B2B Fintech lenders in India today, facilitating loan disbursals of over Rs. 300 crores to offline merchants every month. As Indian businesses rebound and the impact of the pandemic fades away, we expect the lending vertical to grow multi-fold over the coming months. I would like to thank the MAS team for backing us and look forward to partnering with them and empowering millions of merchant businesses.”

Nishit Sharma, Chief Revenue Officer, BharatPe added, “BharatPe’s lending vertical has been scaling fast over the last 2 years. In the coming months, we will not only focus on expanding our geographical coverage in India, but also launch a range of innovative lending products for  merchants. We are on track to build a loan book of US$ 1 bn by March 2023 for our lending partners. I am  thankful to MAS for showing trust in BharatPe’s vision. We will continue to raise debt as well as explore partnerships with Indian and international investors including banks, NBFCs, large pension funds, credit funds as well as development financial institutions.”