Aye Finance, a lending startup, which focuses on the MSME segment, has raised Rs 72 crores. The investor in Aye Finance in this round is BlueOrchard Finance, an investor from Switzerland. Aye Finance will deploy these funds in extending credit to more MSME’s that tend to remain out of the organized institutionalized king of lending.
Within MSMEs, the micro businesses will be more under focus for Aye Finance since these are the companies that desperately need funding support. These units generally operate within a small geography and many times suffer due to lack of timely infusion of funds. The mainstream banks and even the NBFCs find it difficult to lend to these businesses due to various reasons, some genuine, some not so.
Their individual requirements may be small, but time is of essence and that is where startups like Aye Finance are able to make a mark. The company has already helped 80,000 micro enterprises lending them over Rs 1,000 crores over the last 4 years of its existence.
A combination of technology and financial prudence is used by them to assess the applications for loans and then the decision to lend taken. With that kind of a record, Aye Finance must be one of the top lenders for this segment.
“Since our inception in 2014 we have been making affordable loans a reality for the historically credit starved micro enterprises of India. BlueOrchard has been supporting us in our mission of fostering inclusive growth since 2017 and via the MIFA Technical Assistance Facility has now also co-designed and co-financed a Social Impact Study for our customers as well as a Social Performance Study for which we are using the globally accepted SPI4 Tool (Social performance indicators assessment tool). We at Aye are committed to transform the micro scale enterprise lending in India and the confidence BlueOrchard has shown in us strengthens our resolve even further,” Sanjay Sharma, MD and Founder of Aye Finance said in a statement.
Aye Finance has branches in over 100 cities in India employing over 1600 people. Some of the other investor in the company include CapitalG (formerly Google Capital), Accion International, SAIF Partners and LGT.