BharatPe raises ₹50 crore debt

Financial technology firm BharatPe on Monday said that it has raised ₹50 crore in debt from Northern Arc Capital. This is the sixth round of debt financing for BharatPe in the year 2021.

“We have considerably ramped up our lending business in the last year and have set an ambitious target of facilitating disbursals to the tune of $1 billion (about ₹7,300 crore) to over 1 million merchants by the end of current fiscal. We are excited about our latest capital raise from Northern Arc and are confident that, together, we will be able to transform Bharat and serve the needs of the underserved businesses in India,” Suhail Sameer, Group President, BharatPe, said in a statement.

In January this year, the company raised ₹200 crore from three top debt companies in the country—Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, and Trifecta Capital, having later raised additional capital from ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

The firm facilitated disbursals of over ₹1,600 crore to more than 200,000 merchants since the launch of the lending vertical and aims to disburse ₹14,000 crore in business loans by March 2023.

Northern Arc has directly disbursed over ₹3,500 crore over the last financial year to MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), households, financial institutions, and mid-market corporates.

“This transaction is a testament to Northern Arc’s commitment towards fulfilling the credit requirement of the under-banked segments of the country,” Bama Balakrishnan, COO, Northern Arc said.