Fintech firm for merchants, BharatPe, raises Rs 50 crore debt from Trifecta Capital

Fintech company BharatPe on 20 January said it has raised Rs 50 crore (about $7 million) in debt from venture debt firm Trifecta Capital. This is the third tranche of debt fund financing raised by BharatPe. In the last two tranches, the company has raised Rs 199 crore in debt. “BharatPe is committed to empowering the small merchants and Kirana store owners with easy to use and secure fintech products. The fact that we have been able to raise debt from all three renowned venture debt providers Alteria, Innoven and Trifecta Capital - in the largest single raise is a testimony of the scalability of our business model,” BharatPe co-founder and CEO Ashneer Grover said. The debt raised will help further build the lending business and enable credit for millions of businesses across India’s length and breadth, he added. BharatPe has raised Rs 90 crore in debt from Alteria Capital, Rs 49 crore from ICICI Bank and Rs 60 crore in debt from Innoven Capital. Previously, the company had said institutional debt would help catapult its lending business. It intends to raise close to $700 million of debt capital over the next two years. Founded by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani in 2018, BharatPe offers merchants a single interface for all UPI apps like Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM, Mobikwik, Freecharge and others. It also facilitates a loan facility for its merchant partners. The company has set a target of disbursing Rs 1,000 crore of loans in 2020-21, of which Rs 800 crore has already been disbursed. Further, it aims to disburse loans worth $2 billion by March 2023. It has already disbursed loans to more than one lakh merchants and aims to enable credit to 10 lakh small merchants and Kirana store owners in 2021. “BharatPe has done incredible work in the B2B fintech space for merchants. We are of the firm belief that BharatPe, with its wide merchant network, best-in-class fintech products and an experienced team, will go a long way in addressing the credit problem for small businesses in the country,” Trifecta Capital Managing Partner Rahul Khanna said. BharatPe has raised close to $178 million in equity and debt till date. Its investors include Beenext, Sequoia, SteadView Capital, Ribbit Capital, Coatue Management LLC, Insight Partners, and Amplo. With inputs from PTI.