CreditMantri, which provides credit management services to lenders and borrowers, has raised about ₹16 crore ($ 2.5 million) in the first round of institutional funding from IDG Ventures India, Elevar Equity and Accion Venture Lab.

The company will use the money to broaden and accelerate its platform development and build its user base.

According to Ranjit Punja, CEO and co-founder, customers can access their credit score through CreditMantri, which will also help them match the lenders so that they get competitive rates of interest. “The intention,” says Punja, “is to put the customer in control so that he or she gets the best possible terms.” The company deals with three categories of customers – those with a good credit score, those who do not know their credit score and those with a poor credit score. It charges the third category of customers only and also gets compensated by the lenders for putting them in touch with prospective customers.

According to Punja, in the next six to nine months, CreditMantri will move to a model where it gets its revenues only from the lenders, providing the service free to all categories of customers. It deals only with individual customers and not companies.

He said that CreditMantri has tied up with Equifax, a consumer credit reporting agency, and is in talks with Cibil. A press release quoted TC Meenakshisundaram, Founder and MD, IDG Ventures India, as saying that the need for lenders to better understand the customers made CreditMantri a compelling proposition for his firm to invest in. Likewise, Jyotsna Krishnan, Director and Head of Investments, Elevar Equity, said there were still millions who do not have access to formal banking channels and for those who do, over 60 per cent of the bank loan applications get rejected due to negative or no credit history

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