Lending start-up EarlySalary bags $110 mn in its largest fundraise

Consumer lending fintech platform EarlySalary has secured $110 million in its series D round of funding led by TPG’s The Rise Fund and Norwest Venture Partners. Existing investor Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited also participated in the round, its largest fundraise till date. 

Previously, the Pune-based company had raised a total of $34 million from investors including Eight Roads, Chiratae Ventures, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited and angel investors. 

The company, in a statement, said the latest investment will enable it to grow its business significantly in the next 24 months. The transaction also involved a secondary sale, but the company did not disclose details of the exiting investors. 

Founded in 2015, EarlySalary provides short-duration loans of up to Rs. 5 lakhs to working professionals, payable in EMIs over multiple tenures. The company claims to have disbursed nearly 2.8 million loans worth Rs. 7,500 crores so far. It also introduced a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service where it is targeting to build an extensive network of partners across healthcare and edtech segments.

“We believe in a customer-first approach to providing credit to young middle-income Indians and we are thankful for the trust millions of Indians have put in us. The funding will not only help us in expanding our cash business but also build an array of capabilities to efficiently serve a larger segment of customers. We are confident in our ability to keep innovating and achieving 10x large growth in our customer base,” Akshay Mehrotra, Co-founder and CEO said. 

The company said its aim is to offer a safe and reliable credit platform to the underserved population, primarily in Tier 3 and 4 cities, at affordable rates. Nearly 80 per cent of Indians use banking services, however, almost 50 per cent of the population in India doesn’t have access to credit. 

 EarlySalary has expanded its presence from 18 cities to over 150 cities and claims to have approximately 1 million customers.

“Through its innovative platform, EarlySalary delivers a critical financial service to the growing, yet underserved, middle-income segment in India. By providing modest, short-duration loans at competitive rates, EarlySalary is improving the financial health of its customer base and empowering them to finance things like upskilling courses, healthcare needs, personal emergencies, and short-term cash flow mismatches,” Akshay Tanna, Partner at TPG said. 

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