Capital Float secures $13 million for nationwide expansion

Capital Float, a technology platform for SME lending, has raised $13 Million in Series A financing to support the company's rapid growth. The round was led by SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital, with participation from existing investor Aspada.

"SME lending presents a large and growing opportunity in India. We have been working with the Capital Float team for some time now and firmly believe in their ability to create a distinctive, technology led platform which follows a differentiated approach to SME lending. We are delighted to continue and enhance our partnership with Capital Float team as they accelerate their journey to be the dominant player in this segment," said Ravi Adusumalli, Managing Partner, SAIF Partners.

Founded in 2013, Capital Float has created a proprietary technology platform to evaluate the financial health of SMEs and efficiently deliver working capital to a segment that is underserved by traditional banks.

To date, the Capital Float platform has delivered nearly Rs 40 crore in loans to SMEs across 10 cities in India. The company achieved record results in 2014 and saw a 10x increase in online applications, particularly in the e-commerce market, where it has partnered with leading marketplaces such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Amazon, PayTM and Myntra to finance small merchants selling online. 

This round of funding will help expand Capital Float's industry-changing technology, enabling it to scale up nationally and launch new loan products. The company had raised a $4 Million seed round in mid-2014 from Aspada and SAIF, bringing the total capital raised thus far to Rs 100 crore in this fiscal.

"We started Capital Float with the belief that technology and data would be the key drivers in cracking SME financing in India," said co-founders Gaurav Hinduja and Sashank Rishyasringa. "Over the past year, we've focused on building the platform to deliver what our customers want above all else - flexible and ultra-convenient access to finance that can scale with their business. We are very excited to partner with SAIF, Sequoia, and Aspada, and truly believe that we now have a world-class set of investors to propel us towards this vision."

Gautam Mago, MD, Sequoia Capital India Advisors, said, "The use of technology and data will transform lending to businesses and consumers. The technology that Capital Float has built enables meaningfully faster and better decision-making. We are excited to partner with Capital Float in their journey to build a lending platform that continues to be at the forefront of technological innovation."

Kartik Srivatsa, Managing Partner, Aspada Investment Advisors, said, "We have strong conviction in the Capital Float team's abilities in building India's leading platform that enables access to capital to the underserved small business segment, the cornerstone of employment generation and economic development in any emerging economy."