BharatPe Raises $7 Mn Debt From Northern Arc In January, the company raised $26 million from Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital and Trifecta Capital, having later raised additional capital from ICICI Bank and Axis Bank
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Financial services company BharatPe has raised $7 million in debt from Northern Arc Capital, the debt finance platform that is focused on improving access to finance for underserved businesses and individuals in India. This is the sixth round of debt financing for BharatPe in 2021.
In January this year, the company had raised $26 million from three debt companies in the country: Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital and Trifecta Capital having later raised additional capital from ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.
"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 $1 billion to ten lakh merchants by the end of the 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," said Suhail Sameer, group president, BharatPe.
Through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, BharatPe has said to have continued to support the credit requirements of its merchant partners and has emerged as one of the largest B2B fintech lenders in the country. Having already facilitated disbursals of over $230 million to more than two lakh merchants since the launch of the lending vertical, BharatPe aims to disburse $2 billion in business loans by March 2023.
"Northern Arc has continually worked towards extending credit to like-minded organizations 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," added Bama Balakrishnan, chief operation officer, Northern Arc.
Co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 with the vision to make financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants, BharatPe list of marquee investors includes Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Steadview Capital, Beenext, Amplo, and Sequoia Capital.
