INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
At the end of last year, reports surfaced that Amazon was considering an investment in Capital Float as an extension of its $45 million
Series C, which was announced last August
equity it has raised over the past 12 months to $67 million.Over the same period, Capital Float also raised $80 million of debt from banks
and other financial companies, which it combines with its own balance sheet to finance loans to small businesses and other borrowers
Amazon India is among several e-commerce platforms that the company has partnered with to provide loans to sellers, including Snapdeal and
Shopclues.Since its inception in 2013 by co-founders Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, Capital Float has raised a total of about $110
million in equity funding from investors, including Ribbit Capital, SAIF Partners, Sequoia India, Creation Investments and Aspada, as well
as total debt lines of $130 million.During the last six months, Capital Float added 50,000 new customers, bringing its total customer base
to more than 80,000 people in more than 300 cities
The startup says it currently disburses more than 10,000 loans each month and now has an outstanding loan portfolio of more than $170
million, with a default rate of about 2 percent
About 70 percent of its loans are microloans ranging from 25,000 rupees to 500,000 rupees (about $376 to $7,530).With the investment from
Amazon, the startup has set an ambitious goal of adding 300,000 new customers and originating more than $800 million in loans this year.In
We are highly impressed with what Gaurav and Sashank have built and we back missionary entrepreneurs and management teams
Credit in India is highly under-penetrated and Capital Float is bringing the right kind of credit solutions to the underserved and
including products for small- to mid-sized manufacturers, point-of-sale financing for retailers and loans for school construction and
self-employed professionals like doctors
It also added new online payment gateways to make it easier for borrowers to repay loans and began piloting deep learning-based underwriting
models that use data points like image processing, geotags and new policies such as the Goods and Service Tax (GST), an indirect tax
launched last year that is levied at every step of the production chain and the banknote demonetization started by Prime Minister Narendra
