Meet India’s latest unicorn – CredAvenue, an online lending startup

Mar 7, 2022

By: BI India Bureau

India’s latest unicorn

Online debt marketplace CredAvenue is the latest startup to enter the unicorn club. A unicorn, in startup parlance, is a company valued at or over a billion dollars.

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Latest funding

CredAvenue announced that it has raised $137 million in a fresh round led by New York-based Insight Partners, B Capital Group and Dragoneer. Insight Partners’ managing director, Nikhil Sachdev, will be joining the company’s board of directors as part of the deal.

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Valuation nearly tripled

CredAvenue’s valuation has increased nearly three times to $1.3 billion with this round. The company was valued at $410 million in September 2021 when it raised $90 million led by Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, TVS Capital and Lightrock.

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Joining 10 other new billion dollar firms of 2022

CredAvenue will join the likes of Mamaearth, Fractal, Lead School, Elastic Run and Livspace in the unicorn club in 2022.

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Gaurav Kumar – The serial entrepreneur

CredAvenue was founded by Gaurav Kumar in 2020, who previously founded investment firms like Northern Arc Capital and Vivriti Capital.

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CredAvenue is looking at global markets

CredAvenue is expected to use the latest funding to scale its platform and further expand its offerings. The company is also looking to expand its business across key global markets and grow inorganically through acquisitions.

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It has a portfolio of five offerings

CredAvenue currently has a portfolio of five credit platforms — term lending and enterprise working capital solutions provider CredLoan, co-lending platform with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) CredCoLend, bond issuance platform Plutus, trade financing platform CredSCF and portfolio buyout solution for financial institutions CredPool.

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What do the investors have to say?

“CredAvenue helps automate and increase efficiency across the value chain. This is reflected in the strong retention amongst borrowers and repeat deals with investors," Kabir Narang, founding general partner at B Capital Group, said.

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Who does it work with?

CredAvenue currently works with 2,300 firms and over 750 lenders. It claims to have facilitated a debt volume of over ₹90,000 crore to date.

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