Indian lendtech start-up Lentra raises $60m in Series B round

India-based lendtech Lentra has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round led by existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Susquehanna International Group (SIG) Venture Capital.

Citi Ventures also took part in the round.

Founded in 2019 and based in Pune, Lentra will use the money to expand into five countries next year, including the US, starting with Vietnam and the Philippines in spring.

It will also look for acquisitions in the payment processing and data insights and management areas. Earlier this year, Lentra acquired a fellow Indian start-up, TheDataTeam (TDT), which developed a customer intelligence platform for banks and financial institutions to assess customer credit worthiness.

Lentra currently has 50 clients in India for its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) lending solution, which is “powered by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and blockchain technologies”, according to the start-up.

“Lentra’s API-driven modular architecture helps banks create tailored lending products and customer experiences with an astounding 96% straight-through processing (STP) rate,” it claims.

“We see a massive opportunity for ourselves in the retail assets and business banking areas worldwide. At the same time, our clients see us as a source of competitive advantage for their business,” comments D Venkatesh, Lentra’s founder and CEO.

“Ten-fold revenue growth and some of the biggest retail banks as our clients now, act as markers of our solution architecture.”