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Blue-collar-focused Avail Finance raises venture debt from Alteria Capital

By Joseph Rai

  • 03 May 2021
Blue-collar-focused Avail Finance raises venture debt from Alteria Capital
Credit: 123RF.com

Avail Finance, which counts Falcon Edge, Ola and Matrix Partners as its backers, has raised Rs 24 crore ($3.24 million) from venture debt firm Alteria Capital. 

This financial year, the digital lender that offers collateral-free personal loans will focus on diversifying its product portfolio, said cofounder and CEO Ankush Aggarwal. 

Avail Finance, which was founded by Aggarwal and Tushar Mehndiratta in February 2017, serves blue-collared workers with small loans. 

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During the lockdown last year, the company says it provided interest-free loans to more than 100,000 gig workers who had lost their jobs. It has so far processed loans for over 300,000 customers. 

In September 2017, Avail Finance raised angel funding from Ola co-founder Ankit Bhati and the firm’s other executives besides Avendus Capital's Gaurav Deepak.  

In March 2018, the lender got seed/pre-Series A funding from Matrix Partners, an early-stage investment fund of IIFL and individuals. 

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These persons included Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal; Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal; Cred founder Kunal Shah; and Manish Patel, founder of payment solutions firm Mswipe.  

In June 2019, Avail Finance raised more money from Matrix and roped in Ola as an investor.  

Last year, it raised its Series B round of funding led by New York-based Falcon Edge Capital. 

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Alteria Capital was founded in 2017 by Vinod Murali and Ajay Hattangdi, former top executives of InnoVen Capital. 

Last month, it raised commitments worth Rs 1,325 crore ($178.7 million) as part of the first close of its second venture debt fund, overshooting the final target corpus.  

The venture debt firm has made at least 25 investments in startups such as Dunzo, Lendingkart and Faasos parent Rebel Foods.   

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