Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Bengaluru-based consumer financing startup NIRA has raised around ₹7.3 crore ($1 million) in seed funding from angel investors in UK and India.

The funds raised will be used to accelerate the strengthening of core team and technology to drive the initial growth of the business.

NIRA was founded by former Goldman Sachs executives Rohit Sen and Nupur Gupta in 2017. The fintech startup provides an instant lending platform for people excluded from the traditional lending institutions, in order to support financial inclusion. It offers loans up to ₹1 lakh to individuals, empowering them financially.

It enables first-time borrowers to seek loans without a CIBIL score, unlike traditional lending institutions. The borrowers can get loans approved instantly through its online platform or mobile app and set up an auto-debit, to ensure timely payment of the instalments.

The start-up has partnered with Federal Bank to provide loans to consumers at interest rates ranging from 1.5 per cent to 2.25 per cent a month, depending on the consumer’s risk score. Loans are repayable over 3-12 months.

“The need of the hour is small-sized loans because consumers who earn 20,000 –30,000 a month find it very difficult to get loans from banks which expect a good CIBIL score and collateral. We are targeting consumers who are in the early part of their careers who earn modest salaries” Rohit Sen, co-founder and CEO, NIRA.

With the focus on low to middle-income individuals, NIRA aims to empower those individuals as it looks to promote financial inclusion.

Other players in the fintech space focusing on digital lending in India include InstaPaisa, EarlySalary, MoneyTap, Lendingkart, and RupeeCircle, among many others.

Earlier this month, digital lending startup RevFin raised seed capital from a clutch of investors.

Last month, Qbera raised ₹21 crores from E-City, to scale business. Another microlending startup Upwards raised ₹36 crores in series A round led by Shunwei Capital.

The fintech startups in India have been raising a lot of capital from investors, as the opportunities in the domain continue to grow, owing to a large portion of Indian population out of the ambit of traditional lending institutions.

Here is a list of top 10 Indian startups providing instant personal loans to consumers.

By Varun

Startups | Books | Ideas

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