Axis Bank to acquire over 5% stake in fintech startup CredAble
Summary
Axis Bank has announced to acquire over 5% stake in fintech platform CredAble for Rs 55 crore. The deal is expected to be completed by September 2022.In an exchange filing, the bank said it will acquire 8,921 equity shares, equivalent to 5.09 percent of face value of Rs 10 each for Rs 55 crore in CredAble.Founded in 2017 by Nirav Choksi and Ram Kewalramani, CredAble enables working capital financing across corporate ecosystem of vendors, distributors, dealers, and retailors through its network of financial institutions via its proprietary technology (platform) as well as licensing its technology to financial institutions as a co-branding solution.The platform competes with Lendingkart, Razorpay, Kinara Capital, Indifi, and others to offer working capital solutions to small businesses as well. CredAble has so far raised $51.8 million in funding from OAKS Asset Management, Plutus Wealth Management, V Ocean Investments, and others.It has a total income of Rs 8.35 crore in 2021-22 as compared to Rs 2.46 crore the previous year.The co-founders had informed that the platform has disbursed about $3 billion to cash-strapped 1,50,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the past 12 months. The company said it disburses working capital at a monthly run rate of approximately $450-500 million.Meanwhile, in the recently concluded investors meet, Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO at Axis Bank said, "Formalisation of MSME lending and high contribution of MSME segment in Indias GDP offer tremendous opportunity. We continue to invest in the MSME space, extending our distribution and service footprint across India."