Kinara Capital raises Rs 100 cr to boost technology and branch expansion

Small business lender Kinara Capital Thursday announced it has secured funding of Rs 100 crore from investors, to boost technology and branch expansion. The funding was secured from private equity and impact investors-Gaja Capital, GAWA Capital, Michael & Susan DellFoundation and Patamar Capital, the company said.

The funding will help accelerate Kinara Capital's growth in new and existing markets and increase its investment in technology to improve customer experience and assess credit decisions at a faster rate, the company said in a release. Kinara Capital claimed that it has disbursed Rs 1,160 crore across 33,785-plus loans to date, which has impacted over half a million lives in India. Kinara Capital provides loans in Rs 2-25 lakh range without taking property collateral from small business entrepreneurs.

The company will now expand investment in services that refine the customer experience with features such as autopay and auto-disbursement, it said. On the backend, it will further develop its proprietary machine-learning lending algorithms to fast track financial inclusion for thousands of small business entrepreneurs, it said. With 90 current branches, the company plans to add 20 more in high-growth locations in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Kinara Capital currently has an employee base of 1,000 employees and plans to fill about 300 more roles this year.

(With inputs from agencies.)