Bangalore based tech enabled financial services start-up InPrime has raised $1.45 Mn in seed money from InfoEdge Ventures, Titan Capital, Kettleborough VC and other marquee investors. As a new entrant into the financial sector, InPrime will strategically focus on the emerging financial needs of the prime layer of customers within informal segment. The firm plans to channelize this fundraise to ramp up hiring, conclude product development and initiate the process to apply for an NBFC license from the Reserve Bank of India.
InPrime is co-founded by Rajat Singh, Manish Raj and Sneh Thakur. They were part of the leadership team of Ujjivan SFB, one of the leading Small Finance Banks in India and come with a rich banking experience of over a decade each and have worked across various leadership roles in microfinance, rural banking, branch banking, strategy, credit underwriting, credit risk and collections in the bank.
The round was led by Info Edge Ventures and also saw participation from Titan Capital, Kettleborough VC and other angels . Some of the notable angel investors are senior industry leaders like Samit Ghosh (Founder and former MD, Ujjivan SFB), Pritesh Gupta (Managing partner, MyAsiaVC), Shashank Kumar (Co-founder, DeHaat), Satish Perala (Co-founder, Cybrilla), Amit Mantri & Savi Jain (Co-founders, 2point2 capital).
Chinmaya Sharma, Partner, InfoEdge Ventures said, “It is our strong conviction that lending is an execution play. There have been few changes to this business in the 3000-odd years it has existed for. Winners still tend to ‘differentiate’ themselves largely on their execution. Rajat, Sneh and Manish were leading collections, credit and a substantial proportion of the entire book at one of the most successful small finance banks in the country. When a founding team like this comes together, you have to back their ability to execute.”
Bipin Shah, Partner, Titan Capital said,“ Massive credit gap across semi-urban & rural areas is a known story. InPrime’s focus on this market using phygital model and Rajat, Manish & Sneh’s deep conviction for the segment and their extensive experience of lending business made us jump to be part of their journey.”
Rajat Singh, Co-founder & CEO, InPrime Finserv said, ”
InPrime’s mission is to recognize the evolving financial needs of the informal prime customers and build suitable products and services to fulfil these needs. Robust Technology & analytics coupled with essential physical distribution will be core to our strategy which will transcend these customers towards digital financial products. We are thankful to InfoEdge Ventures, Titan Capital, Kettleborough VC and all our angel investors for supporting us in this journey of taking forward the baton of financial inclusion in India.”
InPrime’s strong position to achieve the mission of financial inclusion is backed by some critical factors such as over three decades of combined banking experience with its founders, the uniquely designed & easy-to-use products for the target segment, the use of alternate sources of data, and a proprietary credit underwriting algorithm.
