Datasigns Technologies, a mobile lending platform backed by JP Morgan’s former managing director, Asia Special Situations Group, Sanjai Vohra, plans to raise up to $6 million in a second round of funding within the next one-and-half years, said Monish Anand, founder and CEO.
Pre-series A funding
The Bengaluru-based company raised $1.5 million in a pre-series A funding last month from SRI Capital, Beenext and Pravega. “The next round of funding for expansion, Series A, is slated within the next one-and-half years,” Mr. Anand said.“It will come from the existing investors,” he said in an interview. The platform’s vernacular language app in Tamil and Kannada helps users to rate their credit standing by building a proprietary credit score and report for people applying for loans. The app can run on 2G network and is Android-based.
Datasigns has entered into partnerships with non-banking financial corporations and private banks to help users build their loan books. “We are catering to the unserved and underserved markets,” he said.
In India, the rate of consumer loans to GDP is about 16% compared to China’s 40%, he said. “Our target is not the millennials who want to own an iPhone. Within a couple of weeks the app will be available in Marathi, Gujarati and Telugu.”
The company is also planning to licence its technology to other nations such as the Middle East and Africa.