Amara was founded by Parag Shah, who earlier headed the private equity arm of Mahindra and Mahindra.
Of the total, $66 million was in primary investment while the rest is in secondary capital. In a secondary share sale, money changes hands between two investors and the capital doesn’t go to company coffers. Fibe founder Akshay Mehrotra did not comment on the valuation of the company after this deal. People in the know pegged the post money valuation of the company at north of $500 million.
Also read | Consumer lending apps on track on profitability front
Fibe’s existing investors TPG Rise Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures and Chiratae Ventures also participated in the round. The startup had raised around $110 million in 2022 from the likes of Piramal Capital and Dewan Housing and TPG Rise. It is also backed by the likes of Transcorp, Eight Road Ventures and others.
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“Around $66 million came through primary capital and the remaining was secondary capital, the secondary component was mostly share-swap and no major exits,” said Akshay Mehrotra, cofounder, Fibe.Digital news portal Entrackr first broke the news on Wednesday about the $66 million primary fundraise.
In 2022, the company was valued at around $270 million.
The round comes at a time when fintech lending startups that focus on unsecured consumer loans are finding it difficult to raise fresh equity funding. The Reserve Bank of India’s diktat on banks and NBFCs to slow down on unsecured lending has further hurt their prospects. In May, MyShubhLife, a consumer-focused lending startup, was acquired by listed NBFC Ugro Capital.
“It is a tough market but we have been able to show a profitable business, with strong corporate governance and good asset quality, which has helped us stand out,” Mehrotra told ET.
According to data shared by the company, it closed FY24 with a revenue of nearly Rs 1,000 crore against Rs 429 crore in FY23. It reported a net profit of around Rs 100 crore against Rs 36 crore in FY23.
Fibe, which started off as a small-ticket short duration personal loan company in 2015, has now expanded into products that have a tenure of six months to three years. The average ticket size of its loan products is around Rs 65,000. It offers unsecured personal loans and co-branded credit cards, besides healthcare and education financing options.
Fibe’s AUM (assets under management) stood at around Rs 4,400 crore as of FY24, with a disbursal run rate of around Rs 900 crore to Rs 1,000 crore on a monthly basis.
“Our AUM grows by around Rs 250 crore every month, which is a healthy rate. Now with this fresh funding we will raise further debt of around five times from our lending partners,” Mehrotra said.