StrideOne, an Indian fintech platform, has secured 2.5 billion rupees (US $33.2 million) in capital from Elevar Stock and a few local banks in a mix of equity and debt.
Ishpreet Singh Gandhi and Abhinav Suri launched the company six months ago. Gandhi is the founder and managing partner of Stride Ventures, an Indian venture debt firm that has supported Zetwerk, Infra.Market, Spinny, and CredAvenue, among others. Suri also works at Stride Ventures as a managing partner. He’s previously worked for companies like GE Capital and Citibank.
StrideOne specializes on delivering financial services, such as financing, to MSMEs and startup supply chain partners. The company also has a non-banking finance company (NBFC) license, allowing it to provide loans.
StrideOne has already completed its first purchase, EzCred, a five-year-old consumer loan platform, after just six months of existence. The deal’s financial specifics were kept under wraps. This year, the fintech business intends to make further acquisitions.
In addition to the funding, StrideOne said that it had turned a profit, with US $25 million in assets under management across more than 20 firms. Gandhi credited the company’s profitability to “excellent” unit economics as well as minimal acquisition and underwriting costs.
StrideOne wants to increase the number of borrowers from the existing 1,000 in the near future as a result of the funding. In the next three quarters, the firm plans to raise its staff by 3x to 4x from the present 20.
Strengthening product capabilities, onboarding additional new firms, and further investigating inorganic growth options are among the other near-term goals.
