Private equity fund Zephyr Peacock India Growth Fund, which invests in small and medium enterprises in India, has decided to fund financial solution startup Loanzen, business daily Economic Times reported citing the Press Trust of India.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Loanzen provides financial solutions to the logistics industry. The company plans to expand across states in southern India while it is currently serving customers in Karnataka. The funding amount was not disclosed by the startup but sources indicated that the amount raised in the funding round was about $4 to $5 million, the report added.
“We expect Loanzen to become a leader in logistics financing, supporting over 15,000 customers in the next three to five years”, the report quoted Abhijeet Kudva, Managing Director, Zephyr Peacock, as saying.
Existing investor Kae Capital also participated in the funding round. It stated that “Loanzen will invest the funds raised in development of technology, build data analytics teams, scale operations in existing locations across Karnataka and expand to new markets”.
Madhu Sudhan, Co-founder, Loanzen said that “given the rapid growth in the logistics segment with increasing penetration of technology, we are looking to scale up over the coming year…We are planning to target a Rs 75-80 crore loan book addressing a base of over 2,000 customers in the coming year”.
Loanzen provides loans to purchasers of used commercial vehicles, including operators of small CV fleets and first-time buyers. These purchasers have limited financing options due to inadequate credit history and lack of documented income. Loanzen uses proprietary underwriting processes based on alternate data sources to meet the needs of its customer segment.
Also published on Medium.