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Lending startup Avail Finance raises $9M from Matrix Partners India – ETtech.com


Lending startup Avail Finance raises $9M from Matrix Partners India Bengaluru-based lending startup Avail Finance has raised $9 million in a second round of equity funding from Matrix Partners India.

The technology-enabled startup, founded by Ankush Aggarwal and Tushar Mehndiratta, will use the funds to foray into a neo-banking platform.

Avail Finance, which started off with a lending product, wants to extend its portfolio to a complete digital banking offering for blue-collar workers, addressing their requirements across savings, investments and insurance.

“Our initial experience in lending helped us learn that we need to step back and create a product suite so that our customer can live their entire lives on Avail,” said Aggarwal. “Hence, we are creating a virtual banking solution for them.”

Avail Finance started with a personal loan product for employees, partnering Ola, Swiggy, Zomato and Quess Corp.

The company has developed an interest-free loan that protects this customer segment from income fluctuations.

“We will be extending loans of Rs 3,000 or Rs 5,000 to start with, and give them a period of one month to repay without any extra cost. If they like the service, borrowers will be offered an option to leave a tip while repaying the loan,” said Aggarwal.

This product is aimed at ensuring that someone like a food delivery boy can borrow money easily on days when his scooter breaks down or if there is a medical emergency in the family.

Aggarwal did not disclose financial details of the business, but said the company was doubling disbursals month on month.

In March last year, the startup raised $17.2 million from Matrix Partners, along with multiple seed investors like Ola founders Ankit Bhatia, Bhavish Aggarwal, Cred founder Kunal Shah, Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal and Mswipe founder Manish Patel.



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