Pune-based Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) provider Vayana Network has received over Rs 25.7 crore from IDG Ventures and Jungle Ventures in series A funding. Vayana facilitates trade between businesses and helps finance small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through electronic payments and partnerships with various financial institutions. It is one among 34 GST providers approved by the government to facilitate GST for businesses currently.
The company claims to be the country's largest technology-led third party business-to-business (B2B) trade financing platform. It has processed over Rs 4,000 crore in financing via a number of lending partners like Axis Bank, Religare SME Loans, DBS and Tata Capital apart from payment facilitator MasterCard. The equity investment will be used to further strengthen its B2B trade financing network both in India and abroad.
Vayana had previously raised external funding largely through Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings. "This funding comes at an exciting time with GST driving a digital invoicing ecosystem in India and in the backdrop of increasing velocity for trade-based financing led by third party platforms globally. Our mission from day one has been to focus on designing the simplest possible process for corporate of all sizes and from different industries to avail short term financing for their buyers and suppliers," said RN Iyer, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Vayana Network.
The company plans to roll out value-added services to utilise trade data for their clients. SMEs in India supply over 45 per cent of industrial production and employ over 50 million people.
"Today's supply chains must be dynamic and as a result supply chain financing is a data and performance analytics oriented business. With years of transaction data and GSP (GST Service Provider), Vayana Network is best positioned to help banks and financial institutions capture this opportunity in a forward-looking manner," said Amit Anand, founding Partner of Jungle Ventures.