Mumbai-based Upwards Fintech Pvt. Ltd., a credit and lending-focused financial services startup, has raised a new investment round worth $5 million.

The startup, which has disbursed Rs 4 crore in loans since November 2017, offers a lending service which can loan out funds reaching a maximum of Rs 50,000, in the form of personal lending. The company has also received 4000 applications.

“We firmly believe that conventional underwriting and loan offerings cannot serve the needs of India’s emerging middle class and have invested heavily in building advanced data science driven underwriting algorithms to address this gap,” Co-Founder of Upwards Fintech, Abhishek Soni said, as reported by Livemint.

According to Soni, the startup aims to lend out Rs 100 crore. Funds from the Series A round will be put toward technology development and geographical expansion.

The criteria to receive a loan from the fintech startup for those without a credit history include a salaried income of Rs 15,000 per month.

The company typically offers loans at an interest rate between 18 percent and 32 percent. Investors in the $5 million round include Shunwei Capital, India Quotient and Mayfield.

“Having seen the micro-finance boom India first-hand, I am excited by the large market opportunity Upwards is targeting,” Madhukar Sinha, from India Quotient said.

The startup, which was founded by Soni and Nimesh Verma, provides its loans via Bajrang Investments Pvt Ltd. Since its founding in 2017, the startup has established a presence in 30 cities and has a user-base of 250,000.

“The mobile disruption occurring in India today is very similar to what happened in China eight years back,” Tuck Lye Koh, CEO at Shunwei Capital said through an official statement. “While India’s fintech industry is still very young, Upwards has exhibited tremendous growth since its inception over a year back.”

(Picture courtesy: Market Exclusive)