BharatPe Raises INR 100 Cr In Debt From MAS Financial The company is on track to meet its debt raise targets for FY22

Fintech company BharatPe, on Monday, announced that it has raised INR 100 crore in debt from MAS Financial Services Private Limited (MAS Financial), a non-banking financial company. This is the eighth round of debt fundraise for the company in 2021. BharatPe has raised a total of over INR 600 crore in debt at competitive rates, this calendar year.

"As per industry reports, 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 in India with its compelling lending products for offline merchants. Our recent debt raises will give us the raw material to build our merchant lending vertical more aggressively. BharatPe is one of the largest B2B Fintech lender in India today, facilitating loan disbursals of over INR 300 crore to offline merchants every month. As Indian businesses rebound and the impact of the pandemic fades away, we expect the lending vertical to grow multi-fold over the coming months. I would like to thank the MAS team for backing us and look forward to partnering with them and empowering millions of merchant businesses," shared Suhail Sameer, chief executive officer, BharatPe.

BharatPe has been bullish about its lending vertical, having clocked tenfold growth in the last financial year. Today, the company is the largest B2B credit provider in the country. In total, it has facilitated disbursals in excess of $ 400 million in unsecured loans to over 3 lakh merchants, since the launch of the product, the company said.

"BharatPe's lending vertical has been scaling fast over the last 2 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. We are on track to build a loan book of $1 billion by March 2023 for our lending partners. I am thankful to MAS for showing trust in BharatPe's vision. We will continue to raise debt as well as explore partnerships with Indian and international investors including banks, NBFCs, large pension funds, credit funds as well as development financial institutions," added Nishit Sharma, chief revenue officer, BharatPe.

BharatPe had previously raised seven rounds of debt financing in 2021, having secured over INR 500 crore from top venture debt funds (Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, and Trifecta Capital), banks (ICICI Bank and Axis Bank), NBFCs (Northern Arc Capital), and wealth management companies (IIFL Wealth & Asset Management) in the earlier rounds.

The company is on track to meet its debt raise targets for FY22.