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Education-focused fintech startup, Propelld has raised $35 million in series B round funding led by WestBridge Capital in participation from its existing investors including Stellaris Venture Partners and India Quotient.
Founded in 2017 by IIT Madras trio of Bibhu Prasad Das, Victor Senapaty, and Brijesh Samantaray, Propelld has tie-ups with over 550 educational institutes and is currently clocking an annual loan disbursal run rate of Rs. 600 Crore.
With the current funding round, Propelld plans to grow the loan book rapidly in a segment with low credit penetration, and offer new products for various verticals within education.
Currently employing around 150, Propelld plans to add another 100-150 employees over the next year across technology, business development, and collections.
Speaking on the fundraise, Bibhu Prasad Das, Co-founder & CEO at Propelld, said, “We would like to thank all our institute and lending partners who have believed in us. With the latest capital infusion, we will strive towards building better financial products for the educational ecosystem which will further benefit our partners. “
Commenting on the investment in Propelld, Deepak Ramineedi, Partner, WestBridge Capital said, “India spends over USD 90 Billion annually in education, however, the financial penetration is still very low. Propelld aims to address this gap and increase education loan accessibility to students through tech-based products. We believe Propelld will become the go-to financial player in the Education domain just as we’ve seen strong vertical-focused financial players in other domains like Affordable Housing, SME Lending, Consumer Durables, etc. Propelld is already profitable and has consistently maintained excellent credit quality.”
“We’ve seen Propelld put their heads down and grow sustainably while being very vigilant about lending fundamentals, even during the last couple of Covid-affected years where the broader financial services industry and fintech, in general, had large disruptions. Their NPA numbers, revenue, and profitability give us a very strong belief in the fundamentals of the company,” Anand Lunia, Partner at India Quotient added.
Further talking about the funding round, Ritesh Banglani, Partner, Stellaris Venture Partners said, “We have been very impressed with the team that Propelld has been able to put together and their execution capabilities. Also exciting for us is how the team has thought about leveraging technology from the ground up in all aspects of the company’s operations which is one of the secret sauces of them being highly efficient.”