India Narrative

“Nobody in India should be credit starved,” says Shruti Aggarwal, co-founder of Stashfin, a neo banking startup, which focuses on small ticket size loans between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10 lakh essentially helping the un-banked or the underbanked take care of sudden unforeseen needs. With a total funding of $75 million, Stashfin is now making headlines. Launched in 2016, it has raised funds from a host of investors across the globe including China based Tencent, Hong Kong headquartered Integrated Capital, Singapore based Saison Capital and Snow Leopard Technology Ventures among others. The US based Uncorrelated Ventures and Altara Ventures from Singapore have also invested in the company. Notwithstanding the Covid 19 pandemic and the slowdown in the economy, the Indian startup ecosystem last year raised $24.1 billion worth of equity investment. Stashfin, in a span of just six years, has now spread into 68 cities with a a customer base of 2.5 lakh customers. “What we offer is more a credit line -- and a flexible one. Ours is an aspirational product and we want to tap those with small loan requirements, typically not entertained by big lenders,” the young Agarwal adds. Read More