AYE Finance, a non-banking financial company has announced receiving Rs. 147 crores (USD 21.5 million) in Series C round by CapitalG (formerly Google Capital), and existing investors SAIF Partners and LGT.
AYE provides innovative working capital and business development loans to underserved micro and small enterprises using a unique cluster-based approach, supported by a proprietary underwriting methodology. Its operations are spread across 72 branches in 10 states.
Use of data sciences and digital technology enables Aye Finance to keep operating costs low and overcome the obstacles of inadequate documentation of incomes of their customers. The company has in the first 4 years deployed over 60,000 loans to micro enterprise owners across India and enabled them to grow their businesses.
"We are very excited about our partnership with CapitalG. We have used insightful data models and technology to provide affordable business loans to the financially excluded micro enterprises across India. CapitalG's access to Google expertise in scaling businesses using analytics and technology will strongly supplement our approach," said founder and MD, AYE, Sanjay Sharma.
"We are happy that our present investors, SAIF Partners and LGT, have also participated in the latest round of equity, reinstating their faith in AYE's ability to transform micro and small scale enterprise financing in India," added Sharma.
"MSMEs form the backbone of the Indian economy and contribute a large portion of its GDP, however, they lack access to formal credit. Over the last few years, AYE has proven that their model is one of the most efficient ways to deliver credit to underserved MSMEs across industry clusters. We look forward to working with AYE and helping them use technology to address under penetrated segments of the MSME credit market," said Kaushik Anand, India Head, CapitalG
"AYE is a great company using very innovative methods of underwriting and customer acquisition to serve the small and micro enterprises. We have been a partner since AYE's beginning and have seen it grow and mature to its current level. We continue to be excited about AYE's future and are happy to support the company in this round as well," said Vivek Mathur, Managing Director, SAIF Partners.
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