MoneyOnClick raises $2m in seed funding led by Orios, 3one4, Kalaari

MoneyOnClick, the Bengaluru-based lending start-up, is currently in the news for raising INR 15 crore ($2.15 million) in a seed funding round, led by three venture capital firms including Orios Venture Partners, 3one4 Capital, and Kalaari Capital.

As per authentic sources, the start-up is planning to utilize the funds in consolidating its core technology with a Machine Learning (ML)-based credit underwriting and risk management platform. Sources further claimed that the funds are expected to help the company hire leadership and several operation teams. Other major contenders in the funding segment include ZestMoney, LoanTap, Aye Finance, and i2iFunding.

MoneyOnClick, for the record, was established in 2018 by Vishal Chopra and Himanshu Gupta, former executives of LendingKart and aims to provide Tier 2 & Tier 3 customers with unsecured personal loans, while keeping low default rates. Reliable reports suggest that the start-up is currently in the stealth mode.

As per a report by The Economic Times, the start-up provides a lending platform for consumers outside the boundaries of the formal banking system, given their low credit ratings. The report further quoted Anup Jain, Managing Partner at Orios, as saying that the start-up is a fintech business that is presently addressing a huge gap in India’s lending space that extends beyond Tier 1 cities.

For the record, the Indian retail lending is anticipated to touch $1.3 trillion by 2025 and the unsecured loans are expected to sum up to around $200 billion.

According to Jain, this space will be disrupted by MoneyOnClick because of the company’s extensive use of technology and its exceptional go-to-market strategy.

According to 2018’s Indian Tech Start-up Funding Report, fintech start-ups collected about $1.4 billion from 121 deals last year. The year 2018 witnessed a sharp fall of 51.66% in fintech investments as compared to 2017. Apparently, this indicates a saturation in India’s fintech sector, which will have licensing as a decisive factor for venture capital (VC) investments in start-ups.