Mumbai-based fintech platform, GetVantage, on Tuesday said that it has raised $5 million, through equity and debt, as a part of its seed round of funding led by Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures).
The round also saw participation from Japan-based Dream Incubator Inc., and the debt capital raised by the startup will be used to finance other companies.
With this funding the company looks to also expand into new markets across South-east Asia, in the next two years, starting with Singapore. The startup will look to provide alternative financing to more than 200 companies, during this period in India and other Asian geographies.
Founded less than a year ago, GetVantage is an alternative financing platform for e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands, which looks to provide capital basis revenue-projections of these businesses.
The fintech platform leverages sales, marketing, and accounting data of companies to offer growth capital in India and South-east Asia, between ticket-sizes of ₹20 lakhs to ₹2 crores.
“There is a huge unmet financing opportunity as India’s digital economy takes centre-stage. The GetVantage team has built a powerful, proven deep-tech platform that is empowering e-commerce businesses with better financing options,” said Venkatesh Peddi, partner at Chiratae Ventures.
Apart from e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands, GetVantage’s portfolio includes brands in sectors of – edtech, B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS), subscription-based services, personal and home care, as well as health foods, and fashion.
“We created GetVantage with the simple mission to reimagine venture finance for India’s online brands and startups that are clamoring for a smarter, fair, and frictionless funding alternative. As consumers have shifted online, more companies are looking at how they can take advantage of this digital-shift and the vast economic opportunities that come with it.,” said Bhavik Vasa, founder, GetVantage, who was earlier a part of the founding team of digital prepaid card player, ItzCash.
GetVantage had previously raised a pre-seed round of funding from early-stage investors including Samyakth Capital, Venture Catalysts, Astir Ventures and other notable angels.
“India’s new economy is on the cusp of explosive growth fueled by a growing number of digital-first and D2C brands. GetVantage’s revenue-based financing model will be a key enabler of this growth. We also see strong synergies between GetVantage and our India portfolio of 23 digital startups, and believe that GetVantage will be used by thousands of high-growth businesses in the coming months,” said Munehiko Eto, MD of Dream Incubator (DI) India. Unlike traditional funding sources, GetVantage doesn’t require business owners to give up equity or control via board seats, or warrants. The revenue-based financing model has started to gain prominence in foreign markets, with firms like Canada-based Clearbanc, US-based Lighter Capital, and London-based Uncapped are driving adoption in North American and European markets.
Seeing an opportunity, even online commerce and payments giants including Shopify and Stripe have launched their own financing products to capitalise on the momentum.
