India SME Lender Capital Float Tops Up Funding

After having notched more than $110 million in equity funding in the past, India’s Capital Float has received a top-off of $4.8 million from current investors. The startup’s board had set aside just under 93,000 Series E preference shares with an INR 100 nominal value, Inc 42 reported.

Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja rolled out Capital Float in 2013. The company assists small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with growth through lending. It aids small manufacturers, business-to-business (B2B) service providers and online retailers.

Capital Float has provided more than 500,000 clients with $1.2 billion in funds throughout consumer and SME verticals. In July of last year, the outlet reported the firm had been bringing in debt rounds from current investors to meet SME working capital needs.

As it stands, the entire FinTech space is impacted with the COVID-19 spread in India. The report noted that CreditMate and IndiaLends needed to make pay cuts to remain on an even keel. However, FinTech upstarts registered 125 deals last year with $2.6 billion in overall funding.

Earlier this year, Aye Finance in India received over $14 million in BlueOrchard-led debt funding. The company intended to use the funding to grow its small business loan portfolio throughout the country as it looks to fill the lending gap to small and medium-sized businesses. The funding marked the sixth round of BlueOrchards’ investment in Aye Finance.

Separately, XpressBees, a logistics firm based in India, notched a high-profile funding round with investors at Alibaba supplying $10 million in the company. The funding was likely an extension of the company’s series D funding round per reports, through which Alibaba invested $35 million.

It was also said to show the continued strength and expansion of the logistics space in India. Rivigo, BlackBuck and Delhivery had also received funding in recent months per a report at the time.