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Bharathpe raises INR 200 crore from IIFL Wealth and Asset Management & Others

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BharatPe, a startup sponsored by Tiger Global and offering merchant payments and other financial services, has acquired Rs 200 crore in debt capital from IIFL Wealth and Asset Management and previous investor Northern Arc Capital.

Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani co-founded BharatPe in 2018 with the goal of making financial inclusion a reality for Indian merchants. The company has raised more than Rs 500 crore ($70 million) in debt in 2021, according to the financial startup. The business, which has been dubbed a unicorn, has stated that it wants to raise $250 million in debt by the end of the fiscal year 2022.

“We have witnessed a surge in demand for merchant loans, with multi-fold growth over the last one year. With the festive season coming up soon, we are committed to scale our lending vertical aggressively and have set a target of 10x growth in lending by FY23,” said Chief Executive Officer Suhail Sameer said. “We have set a target to raise $700 million in debt over the next two years to facilitate this credit growth.”

BharatPe last reported a debt raise in May, when Northern Arc Capital provided funding.

The Delhi-based firm raised nearly Rs 300 crore earlier this year from prominent venture debt funds Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, and Trifecta Capital, as well as banks ICICI Bank and Axis Bank and NBFC Northern Arc Capital.

Over the last 18 months, BharatPe's lending vertical has developed at a breakneck pace, disbursing more than $300 million in unsecured loans to over 2 lakh merchant partners. It has a loan portfolio of over $100 million.
Banks, NBFCs, credit funds, huge pension funds, and impact investors are among the domestic and foreign investors the company is looking to collaborate with, according to Sameer.

With a Series E fund raise of $370 million and a valuation of $ 2.85 billion, BharatPe joined the ever-growing Indian unicorn club earlier this month.