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Amazon is speaking with the Bengaluru-based company; the company is focused on small businesses but is also looking to lend to consumers on Amazon’s platform; According to sources Amazon may invest $5-10 million; Capital Float recently raised $45 million in a Series C; Amazon has recently done other deals with fintech companies in India. Source
Indian digital lender Capital Float is reportedly beginning a fundraising deal that would result in Rs 300 crore ($47 million) of new capital; the round is being led by Ribbit Capital and the firm is expecting a valuation of approximately Rs 1,300 crore ($203 million) following the deal; Capital Float plans to expand its lending portfolio to consumer lending and will also seek to finance kirana stores. Source
Capital Float will partner with Amazon India to provide loans for e-sellers; Capital Float will provide the loans through a credit facility called Pay Later which it is already using with e-commerce clients PayTM, Snapdeal and Shopclues; with the Pay Later solution, Capital Float is well positioned to service a fast growing e-commerce market which is expected to grow revenues from $30 billion in 2016 to $120 billion in 2020. Source
With demonetization in full swing, Capital Float has expanded their loan offerings to include businesses with card machines; the new program will allow vendors to take out a loan of up to 200% of their sales; loans will then be paid back based on a small fee from each transaction; the company expects a surge in loans based upon the new government program to remove large cash notes. Source
The company raised $22 million as an extension to its $45 million Series C in August 2017; Capital Float raised $80 million of debt in the last 12 months used to finance its small business loans in India; Capital Float’s customer base includes 80,000 people in 300 cities; they currently complete 10,000 loans per month and have an outstanding loan portfolio of $170 million; their default rate is around 2% and loans are between $376 and $7,530. Source
The Series C round was led by Ribbit Capital; SAIF Partners, Sequoia India and Creation Investments Capital Management also participated; the company plans to expand lending, invest in products/technology and widen their geographical footprint; Capital Float will focus on loans to small merchants and kirana store owners; the company has raised $87 million and has about 15,000 customers in e-commerce, traditional retail, manufacturing as well as services businesses. Source
On Friday last week Capital Float struck a major deal with Amazon India to provide working capital solutions to Amazon's sellers. Amazon India is tied for largest e-commerce market share in India (with Flipkart) and Amazon relies exclusively on third party merchants in India. This partnership launched in October 2016 and has already successfully disbursed thousands of loans to businesses in the Amazon network. They will provide financing to companies in the smartphone, consumer electronics, consumer durables and fashion verticals to start with and they will add new verticals over time.
We are big fans of Gaurav and Sashank, the founders of Capital Float, and their mission in India. Capital Float is the largest digital lending platform to small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in India with a specific focus on working capital management. They cater to over 5,000 SMEs and they have originated over $120 million in loans since their inception in 2013. They are one of the best funded fintech companies in India having raised over $40 million in venture capital from SAIF, Sequoia, Aspada and Creation Investments Capital Management. Most importantly, the founders come from large enterprises where they managed SME supply chain finance for years, so they know the pain points for SMEs that must deal with working capital cash flow management.
The Indian SME market is about $250 billion and it is ripe for disruption. Companies like Capital Float are well positioned to use technology to solve financial service infrastructure problems and to provide much needed access to capital to high quality companies. The best way to reach these companies is through established digital networks like the one Amazon India provides. We expect to see many similar deals with additional e-commerce marketplaces, travel portals, taxi aggregators and other online marketplaces. Capital Float already has similar deals with other leading Indian e-commerce players including Flipkart, Snapdeal and Shopclues.
For more information on the Indian fintech market you can watch the video from LendIt USA 2017 featuring Capital Float as well as Lendingkart, Finomena, Indifi, IndiaLends (PitchIt China winner 2016) and Quona Capital.
Online lending platform, Capital Float, received the Fintech Startup of the Year award at the India Fintech Awards 2016, demonstrating its kirana loan app which it says gives instant approval with no paperwork; the award provides Capital Float with INR 500,000 along with many event partner benefits; within the industry the company has also been focusing on the country's demonetization which has been helping business growth for fintech firms. Source