Fintech SaaS Lentra raises $60 million from Citi, others to drive global expansion
Indian fintech space has emerged as the next tech powerhouse for the country, seeing unprecedented growth and capital inflows. Startups in the fintech space pocketed nearly $9.8 billion in funding last year, among the highest in total fundraising across sectors. And while 2022 has come up with its own set of global economic challenges, severely impacting startup fundraising, fintech in India continues to grow.
Four-year-old Lentra is among the fintech success stories from the country, and has now secured 60 million dollars in its latest fundraising. The fintech SaaS platform raised its Series B from Bessemer Venture Partners and Susquehanna International Group (SIG) Venture Capital, both of which are existing investors. Citi Ventures, a subsidiary of the investment banking giant Citigroup, also participated in the round, raising the valuation of the start-up to just over 400 million dollars.
The AI-based fintech startup helps banks and credit institutions further digitize credit disbursements and assist them in various aspects of loan servicing with its comprehensive suite of digital offerings. Whether it’s know-your-customer (KYC) compliance, servicing and collections or more, Lentra helps meet the lending needs of financial institutions.
Ever since Lentra was founded four years ago by D Venkatesh and Ankur Handa, the startup has seen steady growth, and the numbers speak for themselves. In the pre-pandemic year, the platform earned $1 million in revenue based on the use of its APIs, and this year the amount has gone up to $10 million. Lentra estimates that this growth will increase tenfold, to nearly $100 million by 2024.
“We want to help and empower the banks, who are our customers, to lend better, lend completely on a digital platform and improve all parameters,” Venkatesh said. The lending tools include Lentra Lending Cloud, which offers third-party API connectors for use, a loan management system (LMS) and a code-free business rules engine (BREx). Jt’s GoNoGo platform helps banks determine whether to grant loans to customers once they have applied.
With the current funding round, the lending software provider, like its fellow fintechs, sees an entry into the international markets and takes on global fintech players. The proceeds of the round will be used to fund acquisitions and improve existing products and capabilities.
By March 2023, it aims to penetrate three Asian markets – Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines – and make a mark in five overseas markets by the end of next year. These are undoubtedly ambitious goals, but with the steady growth of the fintech market, they are certainly not unattainable.
“With this fundraise, we have quite a large war chest and will be looking at opportunities to buy out talent as well as revamp our systems, in an effort to better serve our customers,” said Venkatesh, who is also the managing director.
