Fintech firm Lendingkart is aiming for a 33% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its topline for the financial year ending March 2024 at Rs 1,100 crore, co-founder and CEO Harshvardhan Lunia told FE. Moreover, the fintech platform’s bottomline would grow 67% YoY to over Rs 200 crore in FY24, he added. During FY23, the fintech’s total revenue stood at Rs 828 crore, up 29% on a YoY basis, while net profit was at Rs 120 crore.
His comments come on the heels of the company raising Rs 200 crore from in long-term debt funding from growth-stage debt financing platform EvolutionX Debt Capital. The funds raised would be used to grow the fintech’s new line of businesses, the CEO said, and for working capital requirements and upgrading technology infrastructure. Further, the fintech will raise another `600 crore through equity in next 12 months, he said.
Lunia said that in the current times, it has become extremely difficult for new-age startup companies to attract funding without a sustainable business model, and that only profitable and long-term players are able to get funding from investors.
“One of the key things a lot of investors are asking now is whether you have a long-term sustainable business…and second thing is profitability, last year we made Rs 120 crore of profit on `800 crore of revenue…thus we have reasonable interest from investors for funding. But if you are loss-making, business is not built and does not generate cash, then there is not much interest,” he said.
During the previous fiscal, Lendingkart disbursed a total of Rs 3,959 crore of loans, of which nearly Rs 3,200 crore of loans were disbursed via co-lending partnerships with over 20 banking partners, Lunia said. In FY24, the fintech aims disbursing `6,000 crore of loans and up to Rs 10,000 crore of loans by FY25-end. The company would also look to go public in the next 24-36 months, he added.
When asked what are were the guardrails in place to curb rising digital frauds, Lunia said companies should prioritise implementing robust preventive measures, and carefully select third-party players for providing various financial services.
“We believe in a proactive approach, where prevention is the key to success in this rapidly evolving digital landscape, such as effective cybersecurity and data security,” he said. “Credit due diligence is the key, everyone needs to ensure scrutiny and strict adherence to credit processes and checks. Most importantly, it is absolutely essential to have clear terms and conditions that are straight forward and easy to understand,” he said.