Venture Catalysts leads USD 2 mln investment round in Creditenable

Startups incubator Venture Catalysts on Tuesday announced it has led a USD 2 million (about Rs 14.6 crore) fund infusion into Creditenable, which helps small businesses raise loans.

The funds infused by VC along with its UK arm JPIN Venture Catalysts will be used for development of Creditenable's technology platform and expansion of user base, as per an official statement.

The company uses data analytics and artificial intelligence to support SMEs in procuring different business loans and helps lenders improve approval rates to above 70 per cent and disburse loans in days rather than week, it said.

Headquartered in the UK, the company has been operating in India since 2017 and serving 20 lenders including IDFC First Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and foreign lenders like Deutsche Bank and DBS, it said.

“The COVID pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digitisation within financial services. Getting affordable finance into the SME segment at scale is going to be critical to our global economic recovery and we are thrilled to have Venture Catalysts support to help us to scale our reach in India,” the company's chief executive Nadia Sood said.

Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, co-founder and president at VC, said Creditenable has the potential to be a unicorn (one with a valuation of over USD 1 billion) because of its ability to solve for the most relevant gaps in the Indian market.