BharatPe raises Rs 100 crore in debt from MAS Financial; Rs 600 crore raised so far this year

Fintech firm BharatPe today announced that it has raised Rs 100 crore in debt from MAS Financial Services Private Limited (MAS Financial), a non-banking financial company, in its eighth round of debt fundraise in 2021. With this funding, BharatPe's total debt fundraise stands at Rs 600 crore in this calendar year.

"BharatPe has been bullish about its lending vertical, having clocked 10x growth in the last financial year. Today, the company is the largest B2B credit provider in the country," a statement said, adding that it has facilitated disbursals of over $400 million in unsecured loans to over 3 lakh merchants since launch.

BharatPe had before raised seven rounds of debt financing in 2021, having secured over Rs 500 crore from top venture debt funds including Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital and Trifecta Capital, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, Northern Arc Capital and IIFL Wealth & Asset Management.

As per BharatPe, it's on track to meet its debt raise targets for FY22.

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BharatPe Chief Executive Suhail Sameer said there is close to $400 billion addressable SME lending opportunity in India. "BharatPe is committed to addressing this credit gap for small merchants and kirana store owners, with its compelling lending products for offline merchants," he said.

BharatPe, which is one of the largest B2B fintech lenders in India, facilitates loan disbursals of over Rs 300 crore to offline merchants every month.

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BharatPe Chief Revenue Officer Nishit Sharma said BharatPe's lending vertical has been scaling fast over the last two years. "In the coming months, we will not only focus on expanding our geographical coverage in India, but also launch a range of innovative lending products for merchants," he said.

Co-founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018, BharatPe serves over 70 lakh merchants across 140+ cities. The company is a leader in UPI offline transactions, processing 11 crores+ UPI transactions per month. BharatPe has disbursed loans worth Rs 2,800 crore to its merchants since its launch.

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