Flexiloan, an online financing platform, based out of Mumbai and provides the small and medium-sized enterprises with unsecured working capital loans. It was founded in November 2015 and integrated in 2016.
Lending process in a Flexiloan is entirely online. It has no physical paperwork and has quick processing and disbursal within 48 hours. Proprietary credit scoring models and algorithms are used by Flexiloan for the underwriting process, thus managing to disburse loans to its customers in minimal time.
It has partnered with regional platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, ShopClues, Snapdeal, pine slabs, FirstData, OYO, and Jabong also along with other platforms too, in order to extend loans and credit lines to the vendors associated with this platform, also extend its products, through its site directly.
The Flexiloan was started by their co-founders- Manish Lunia, Abhishek Kothari, Ritesh Jain, Deepak Jain including the Housing.com’s ex-CFO.
Flexiloan- Dream fulfilled
An Agra based, businesswoman, Neelam Kuk, was determined to set up her business with full energy and enthusiasm. So she set up her store on Shopclues, an online marketplace by opening a seller account and by listing products on it. However, lack of funds brought her dream down. Flexiloan supported her after thoroughly, going through her case and noticing that her husband has been in full support for her venture, Flexiloan approved Rs 1 lakh loan she needed. The funds were transferred to her within 48 hours, in Agra, all at the click of a button, at her convenience.
The way Flexiloan function
The Flexiloan makes available transparent funding access that is quick and fast, to millions of deserving small organizations or aspiring business enthusiasts. With Uber and Shopclues as partners, they formally launched operations in April 2016 in order to reach out to their target audience.
Their system requires the customer to visit their website, fill the application form, and submit online the required documents, after which, through an in-house scoring model, a credit analysis is performed on the customers. Once it is approved, the customer is offered a loan which is disbursed as the customers agree to the terms and conditions.
Initially, it was a difficult challenge to convince customers to send their documents digitally online, so gradually, they made some modifications and clarity in the system like the incorporation of Aadhaar card, QR code scanning mechanism. This process, scrapped and auto-filled the demographic information of the customers.
Mr. Deepak, co-founder of Flexiloan said that they are presently lending through their partners and associate NBFC’s. He further added that the revenue they earn is primarily from financing and processing fees also they will use their partner network to grow their bouquet as a marketplace.
The organization uses various sources of data to get an applicant, mostly by non-traditional credit scoring parameters. The proprietary credit engine and 48 hours time limit to dispense loans sets FlexiLoans in a distinguished and trustable position, from the other credit lending firms that are traditional.
Over 500 applications had already been processed by July 2016.
One of the largest first rounds raised by an Indian
Well, known names in banking sector like-Sanjay Nayar, CEO, KKR India, Anil Jaggia, Ex-CIO, HDFC Bank, VikramSud, Ex-COO, Citi Asia-Pac provided Rs 100 crore for a Flexiloan, in September 2016. The funds were provided to fuel the next phase of their growth.
The team and the way they started up
Flexiloan’ founders are an eminent lot. Abhishek, an IIT-Bombay and ISB-alum with an experience of 12 years in the field of building data and analytics-led strategies for financial institutions.
Deepak, a certified CA who went to ISB, with an experience of 11 years in investment banking and management consulting, and has worked on various top banking deals like Axis Bank QIP, RBL IPO, Capital First QIP, HDFC NCD, and warrants, etc.
Manish and Ritesh, the third and the fourth co-founders also hold the same qualifications as Deepak, while the former holds 12 years experience in M&A, NBFC, wealth management, telecom, and the latter has worked with various startups in the finance and technology domains and served in Housing.com as the CFO. Most of them have business backgrounds with an inherited entrepreneurial skill set and temper. However, taking the plunge was a difficult and riddled decision compiled with apprehensions as they were holding the credible position in the corporate business industry.
Once they finalized a plan to initiate, they started meeting many small entrepreneurs to check if timely access to finance through channels was a huge concern, and these hypothetical ideas were tested sufficiently by all their professional experiences so far.
Expanding rapidly
The Flexiloan had partnered with almost all major e-commerce players in India like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues, Jabong, Voonik, etc. by Feb 2017.They came up with brand new offerings like providing loans against POS transactions, which led to the further major spike in volumes. Soon, they also acquired Creditperiod.com. It helped them to launch the supply chain finance vertical.
They started receiving more than 2,500 applications on a monthly basis by April 2017 and further 8,000 processed applications. They have processed over 12,000 applications, in more than 90 cities. Their intention is to soon reach the count of 500 while reducing the processing within 24 hours.
By using business to business approach, they partnered with platforms or corporations that were associated with around a thousand of their target audiences.
The mastery mode
SMB Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, reported recently that India presently has over 50 million SMEs that have a contribution of around 45 percent of the nation’s GDP. More than 85 percent of these are underserved as per Flexiloan research.
Their goal in the next few years is to be a data science and machine-learning-enabled lending organization with a more deep penetration particularly tier-1 and 2 cities.