Matrix-backed Ziploan raises INR 90 cr

New Delhi, February 19th, 2019: Ziploan, a SME financing platform, has raised INR 90 cr in its Series B financing round led by SAIF Partners with existing investors Matrix Partners India, Waterbridge Ventures and Whiteboard Capital also participating in the round. Ziploan is a digital lender that provides small ticket business loans of up to INR 5 lakhs to micro enterprises and SMEs. With this new round of funding, the company has raised a total of INR 320 crore of equity and debt funding till date and plans to mobilize additional INR 250 crore more from debt investors.

SMEs are underserved as they are costly to reach and less data is available for underwriting. Ziploan's proprietary risk assessment engine called ZipScore and its lean operations helps Ziploan achieve amongst the lowest operating costs in the industry. With a turn-around time of less than four days, Ziploan is the lender of choice for these micro SMEs with monthly disbursals growing 10X over the last year. Ziploan has co-lending and debt partnerships with leading banks and NBFCs such as IDFC First Bank, IndusInd Bank, Northern Arc, MAS Finance and Caspian Finance among others, allowing it to build a highly profitable and capital efficient business at scale. ZipLoan is currently operational in NCR, Mumbai, Indore, Lucknow, Dehradun and Jaipur.

Commenting on the investment, Kshitij Puri, Co-Founder and CEO, Ziploan, said, "Our mission at Ziploan is to be the harbinger of small business lending revolution. With our focus on granular behaviours of different businesses, we have been able to scale up Ziploan by 10 X in last 12 months, having disbursed INR 150 Cr with a quality loan portfolio. We are glad to have investors such as SAIF Partners, Matrix Partners andWaterbridge participate in this round and help us achieve our vision.'

Shalabh Singhal, Co-Founder and COO, Ziploan mentioned, "We at Ziploan believe that small business owners are the real change makers in India and by solving their biggest pain point i.e. access to organised finance, Ziploan can create a very big impact in the society. Ziploan has developed proprietary technology and machine learning powered applications to serve this segment at scale. We feel inspired partnering with SAIF, Matrix and Waterbridge who have helped build many successful Institutions in the past.'

Mridul Arora, Managing Director, SAIF Partners, said, "We are excited to partner with Ziploan in their mission to make small business lending efficient and hassle-free. We were impressed by the team's ability to demonstrate strong growth, capital efficiency and robust book quality driven by their proprietary ZipScore. We're confident the team will continue to scale and execute on their vision of being the preferred lender for micro SMEs'

"We partnered with Kshitij and Shalabh at the very beginning and it is gratifying to see the growth and scale into which the company has evolved. We remain impressed by ZipLoan's approach to solving the tough MSME lending problem. We believe it's still Day One for the company and the best is yet to come." said Sarbvir Singh, Managing Partner, WaterBridge Ventures

"We believe in Ziploan's online-offline approach of honing a proprietary ZipScore coupled with low cost operations and acute collection focus. This combination enables scale while accounting for the reality of working with Indian SMEs. As early investors in Ziploan we are privileged to partner with Kshitij and Shalabh and believe in their vision of building a SME focused financial services company', said Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Director, Matrix India.

About Ziploan:
Ziploan is a tech-driven digital lender focused on small ticket business loans. Till date, Ziploan has disbursed approx. INR 150 Cr across 3500 borrowers. Ziploan is present in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Dehradun. Ziploan is addressing the key pain point of small businesses i.e. access to formal credit by customizing the loan sourcing and underwriting process for its target customer base. For more information visit:www.Ziploan.in

About SAIF Partners:
SAIF Partners is a leading Asia-focused venture capital / private equity firm with over $5 billion under management. SAIF was founded in 2001, and has made over 100 investments since inception. In India, the portfolio includes Paytm, Just Dial, MakeMyTrip, NSE, BookMyShow, Rivigo, Swiggy and UrbanClap. In addition, SAIF has a large presence in China. The firm is sector and stage-agnostic, and actively invests in early-stage, growth as well as public market opportunities in India. Further information is available at www.saifpartners.com

About WaterBridge Ventures:
WaterBridge Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm founded in 2016. The firm is sector agnostic and looks to invest in early stage tech companies. WaterBridge has offices in Delhi and Bangalore with a global investor base. More information can be found at waterbridge.vc

About Matrix Partners India:
Matrix Partners India is an investment firm with approximately $1 billion under management. Founded in 2006, the firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early and early growth stages. Matrix India has invested in several market leading companies such as Ola (local transportation), Quikr (online classifieds), Practo (digital health platform), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Treebo (digital hotel chain), Limeroad (social e-commerce platform), Mswipe (mobile POS), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), OfBusiness (credit led B2B marketplace), Vogo (scooter sharing), Razorpay (payments), and ZipLoan (small business lending) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in