Bengaluru: BharatX, a FinTech Startup that enables Consumer facing platforms to offer Credit-as-a-Feature, has raised US$ 250,000 (INR 1.81 crores) in a Pre-Seed round from marquee angel investors and other industry veterans to boost Embedded Credit in the Indian market.
The round was participated by many Marquee Angels and Industry Veterans including:
- Java Capital (Lead investor),
- Anupam Mittal, Founder Shaadi.com / People Group,
- Ritesh Jain, Ex Chief Operating Officer of HSBC,
- Faiz Mayalakkara, Director of Investments at UAE’s Sovereign Wealth fund,
- Amit Kumar Singh, ex-CBO, Indialends.com and
- LetsVenture AIF
The funding will help drive BharatX’s strategy to deliver seamless Embedded Credit experiences on many consumer facing platforms across India, with zero credit risk and zero operational headaches for the platforms. Customers of the platforms will enjoy a white-label seamless experience with no separate app download required.
Currently, nearly 480 million Indians don’t get access to credit due to lack of documentation, high interest rates and inadequate supply of credit in the informal sector. BharatX aims to bridge this gap with credit products enabled on apps that those users already use.
Mehul Jindal, founder of BharatX, says, “Over the last decade, startups have brought the Bank to our mobile phones, but they haven’t brought what even the Banks couldn’t deliver – Access to Credit. Our goal with BharatX is to enable easy and cheap access to Credit to Every Middle Class Indian who deserves it with a Zero Document Flow. Embedded Credit, allows us to acquire users at much lower costs while also creating value for the Platform we partner with, be it through journeys like Khata, Try & Buy, Pay Later, Credit Line, etc.”
He adds, “We are proud to say that, we do not bias against factors like gender, age, etc and our approval rates are multiples higher than the industry benchmarks, as our focus is on access to credit. We are excited and very grateful to our investors for putting their belief in us to solve this problem which has plagued Indians for far too long. We hope to bring some exciting and disruptive tech to the market soon.”
The most popular embedded credit journey by BharatX is the “Khata” plan for daily essentials sellers, which allows people to buy groceries and household essentials, and pay next month, similar to the offline Khata that many Kirana’s offer offline to their customers. It also has a “Pay-in-3” option, which allows the customer to split their purchases into three interest-free instalments with one of the highest approval rates in the market.
BharatX’s “Try-and-Buy” feature, is best suited for social commerce platforms and apparel & fashion websites; it allows customers to try out a garment and pay upto 5-10 days after delivery, solving customer concerns regarding returns and refund policy.
BharatX also offers pay later for food delivery and payment apps, and postpaid features for ride-hailing apps. Its “Design-Your-Own-Credit” feature also allows merchants the freedom to develop their own payment method, with technology powered by BharatX.
Karteek Pulapaka, Partner, Java Capital, says, “We are thrilled to partner with BharatX and back the exceptional founding team led by Mehul Jindal. BharatX offers plug-and-play credit products through an ultralight SDK that can be integrated by brands, e-commerce stores, merchants and their own mobile apps. The next wave of growth in India will come from its deepening internet penetration and increased data usage. However, much of this growth depends on how easily customers can access credit, and if it is affordable. BharatX can revolutionise how this wave of internet shoppers avail formal credit. We are happy to be part of this mission.”
