BharatPe raises INR 500 million debt from Northern Arc Capital

By Leandra Monteiro

BharatPe, an Indian financial services company for merchants, announced that it has raised INR 500 million in debt from Northern Arc Capital, an Indian digital debt finance platform that is focussed on improving access to finance for under-served businesses and individuals in India. This is the sixth round of debt financing for BharatPe in the year 2021.

In January this year, the company had raised US$ 26 mn from three top debt companies in the country – Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital and Trifecta Capital, having later raised additional capital from ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

Through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, BharatPe has continued to support the credit requirements of its merchant partners. Having already facilitated disbursals of over US$ 230 mn to more than 2,00,000 merchants since the launch of the lending vertical, BharatPe aims to disburse US$ 2 bn in business loans by March 2023.

Northern Arc has been at the forefront of fighting the economic and social impact of the pandemic. It has directly disbursed over US$ 500mn over the last financial year to MSMEs, households, financial institutions and mid-market corporates. It has also enabled flow of financing of over USD 150mn from reputed Development Financial Institutions from across the world to underbanked small businesses and households.

Commenting on the debt fund raise, Suhail Sameer, Group President, BharatPe said “At BharatPe, we are committed to bridge the credit gap for SMEs and small merchants in the country. We have considerably ramped up our lending business in the last year and have set an ambitious target of facilitating disbursals to the tune of US$ 1 bn to 10 lacs+ merchants by the end of current fiscal (FY22). We are excited about our latest capital raise from Northern Arc and are confident that, together, we will be able to transform Bharat and serve the needs of the underserved businesses in India. As we aggressively build this vertical and roll out products in the secured lending space, we will continue to partner with institutional debt providers to help empower millions of small merchants in India.”

Commenting on the transaction, Bama Balakrishnan, COO, Northern Arc said, “Northern Arc has continually worked towards extending credit to like-minded organisations such as BharatPe that enable financial access to small businesses and merchants across the country. This transaction is a testament to Northern Arc’s commitment towards fulfilling the credit requirement of the under-banked segments of the country.”