Mumbai-based digital lending startup ‘SME Corner’ raises Rs 90 crore for lending

New Delhi, Mar 6 (KNN) Mumbai-based digital lending startup SME Corner has raised Rs 90 crore in fresh funding in a mix of debt and equity.

SME Corner, which lends money to small retailers in nine cities across three states, intends to use the proceeds to scale up operations to reach 30 cities by the next fiscal year.

While Rs 35 crore of equity capital has come from Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund managed by Quona Capital, another Rs 10 crore was infused by existing investors including Accion Venture Lab.

Besides the equity funding, Rs 45 crore of debt funding came from institutions like Northern Arc and Vivriti Finance.

“We will be ending March with Rs Rs 230 crore of disbursals and intend to reach Rs 900 crore by 2020 and ramp up operations to serve 12,000 customers,” said Samir Bhatia, CEO of SME Corner.

“The target market is huge,” Bhatia said. “There are more than three crore small retailers in India and most of them have a strong loyal base of customers in their area of operations. Our target is this segment,” he added. (KNN/JM)