Stride Ventures writes $2 million cheque to MSME lender Ziploan

ZipLoan, an online lending platform operated by Delhi-based Blue Jay Finlease, has raised $2 million (Rs 15 crore) in a debt round from venture debt firm Stride Ventures.

The investment marks Stride Ventures’ first bet in fintech lending and the amount will be disbursed across two tranches, the company said in a statement.

The company last raised $12.5 million (Rs 90 crore) in its Series B round led by venture capital and growth equity investment firm SAIF Partners. Prior to that it raised $3 million (Rs 20 crore) in a funding round led by Matrix Partners India in October 2017. 

Launched in September 2015 by Kshitij Puri and Shalabh Singhal, ZipLoan is a technology-enabled lending platform that provides loans to MSMEs. The company claims that its proprietary ZipScore platform, which tests the credit worthiness of a borrower, has so far helped it keep non-performing assets (NPA) below 3%.  

“The MSME segment is the most important contributor to our economy, but still continues to be credit starved. Even during the current crisis, the MSME segment has shown great resilience demonstrated by strong collections we have had,” Puri said. 

Till date, Ziploan said it has disbursed approximately Rs 400 crore across 10,000 borrowers. It has a presence in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Dehradun. 

“We are excited to partner with ZipLoan in their pursuit to revolutionize lending to small business owners. It is our endeavour at Stride to make credit accessible and efficient as we try to prevent equity dilution and make entrepreneurs truly ‘atmanirbhar’. The company has exhibited tremendous growth without compromising the quality of the loan book,” Ishpreet Gandhi, founder and managing partner at Stride Ventures said. 

Set up in 2019, Stride Ventures provides debt solutions to growth stage startups. It launched its maiden fund in 2019 with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore and plans to invest in 35-40 startups over the next three years. It has funded companies such as CredR, a used two-wheeler market place; LetsTransport, a logistics marketplace; and Stellapps, a dairy-tech firm. The venture lender said it made the first close of its maiden fund in November 2019, with a final target corpus of $70.5 million.