Andromeda, a loan distributing company, has acquired Apnapaisa, previously known as Apnaloan and one of the oldest loan distributing companies, in an undisclosed cash and stock deal. Andromeda will use Apnapaisa’s technology for its growth over the coming years, as well as utilise its management to digitise its business. It will expand its base in credit cards and personal loans, as well as grow from 30 to 100 Tier I and Tier II cities.
Apnapaisa was founded in 2000 and promoted by CEO Harsh Roongta, who previously worked with ICICI Bank and Anik Financial services. The Apnapaisa company, which owned the portals Apnaloan and Apnainsurance, had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from JAFCO Asia and existing investor Sequoia Capital in 2009. At that time, Apnapaisa had said that it would utilise the funds to improve its price comparison service, add car and travel insurance, as well as launch investment products, travel services and mobile commerce.
It had also raised funding worth $2.2 million from Sequoia Capital in early 2007 and was backed by Rediff, ING Vysya Bank, SIDBI Venture, Jumpstart Venture Fund, FMO and Edelweiss Capital, who exited the business over time.
Andromeda, on the other hand, claims to have a presence across 30 cities in India and a staff of about 1,000 people, distributing loans worth Rs 8,000 crore per year. It also claims to have a customer base of over a lakh and has served over 2 million customers so far. The platform offers personal, business and home loans along with loans against properties, loan comparison and balance transfers. On its website, it claims that car loan and credit card services are coming soon.
Other developments in the space include:
– Last week, online lending platform for entrepreneurs and small businesses Lendingkart raised $10 million from Saama Capital, Mayfield Fund, and individual investors Ashvin Chadha and Shailesh Mehta.
-Late last month, online credit management service CreditMantri had raised Series A funding worth $2.5 million from IDG Ventures, Elevar Equity and Accion Venture Lab. CreditMantri was to use the funds for platform development, hiring and build a user base. CreditMantri was founded by R Sudarshan, Gowri Mukherjee and Punja in 2012.
– In the same month, ecommerce marketplace ShopClues launched a financing platform for its vendors called Capital Wings, in order to help them raise funds to expand their business online. The company partnered with digital SME finance company Capital Float to offer working capital loans to small and medium businesses at low interest rates and without any collateral.
– In February, Bangalore-based digital SME finance company Capital Float had raised $13 million in a round of funding led by SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital, with participation from existing investor Aspada Investment. The company was to use the funds to expand its technology, scale up nationally and to launch new loan products.
Image Credit: Flickr user Miran Rijavec
