Singapore-based Fullerton Financial Holdings along with existing investors has picked up over 25% stake in Bengaluru based online lending startup, Lendingkart Technologies by raising an estimated Rs 565 crores ($87m) equity capital in a Series C funding round, making it one of the largest in the SME lending space, reported VC Circle and Mint. The latest round of financing raises Lendingkart group’s cumulative debt and equity funding to Rs 1,129 crores ($173m). The deal also included the signing of a MoU between Lendingkart and Fullerton to explore opportunities for promoting each others business.

AZB & Partners advised Fullerton Financial Holdings in the transaction, led by partners Ashwath Rau and Anu Tiwari, senior associate Nirmal Mahtani and associate Rachana Rautray.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas acted for Lendingkart and was represented by their Bangalore partner Siddharth Nair and senior associate Kaushalya Venkataraman.

Update 29 May 2019: S&R Associates advised Bertelsmann India Investments led by a team of partner Rachael Israel.

Founded in 2014 by Harshvardhan Lunia and Mukul Sachan, Lendingkart is an online financing company dedicated to help entrepreneurs and small businesses with working capital loans and uses in-house big data analytics and machine learning algorithms to evaluate the creditworthiness of a potential borrower. Through the current fundraising by Fullerton Financial Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, Lendingkart is expected to strengthen its technology and analytics capabilities, aiming to expand its credit product offerings to small and micro enterprises.

2018-02-09