Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), private equity giants like Bain Capital and Advent International and at least 20 other investors are lining up to fund Mintifi, which is stitching together a fresh round that can stretch to $100 million, sources told Moneycontrol.
Mintifi works with large companies such as Tata Motors, Nivea, Page Industries, which is the exclusive licensee for Jockey in India, and others to digitise their supply chain and extend credit to stakeholders, including distributors and retailers. With Mintifi’s services, a distributor can procure inventory but pay later.
“There are at least 20 investors chasing Mintifi to participate in its $100 million round. Mintifi is, however, yet to decide on the next and final steps based on the valuation that it is being offered,” a person privy to the deal details told Moneycontrol.
While Mintifi, OTPP and Bain Capital did not respond to Moneycontrol’s queries at the time of publishing, Advent International declined to comment.
Mintifi raised $110 million in March 2023, led by Premji Invest. The round also saw participation from existing backers such as Norwest Venture Partners, Elevation Capital and International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The developments also come at a time when large-ticket deals, $100 million and above, are making a comeback in the Indian startup scene, as reported by Moneycontrol.
Mintifi, which also works with SMEs, had doubled its valuation from $200 million in 2022 to around $400 million in 2023. The Mumbai-based company expects a much higher valuation during the ongoing discussions.
The person quoted above said Mintifi's financial performance is a key reason why the company is a lucrative bet.
Improving metrics
While it is yet to file its FY24 results, the startup turned profitable in FY23 after recording a net profit of Rs 25 crore on a revenue of Rs 227 crore, the latest data available on Tracxn, a private markets data provider, shows.
It is a significant improvement in financials from a top line of Rs 60 crore and a loss of Rs 1 crore in FY22.
Mintifi's financial metrics will only improve as the company's base of corporate partners increases from 150 to more than 200 and beyond.
On a monthly basis, it was reportedly disbursing around $100 million in credit and was on track to increase the size to about $400 million sometime this year, growing its loan book to over $1 billion in size.
The round, if the talks materialise, will largely be a primary capital infusion. The digital lending platform will use the fresh capital to expand its loan book and further grow total disbursals, sources said.
Founded in 2017 by Anup Agarwal, Ankit Mehta and Sanjoy Shome, Mintifi, which has raised around $170 million so far, competes with KredX, Oxyzo, FinAGG, Cashflo, Cashinvoice, Vayana and Credable in the invoice discounting space and with InCred, Lendingkart and NeoGrowth, Flexiloan, Indifi and others in the business working capital loan segment.
In March 2023, when the company raised $110 million, co-founder and CEO Agarwal said, “Mintifi is on a mission to disrupt the supply-chain financing industry by capitalising on its proprietary flow-based underwriting model. Our unique plug-and-play approach allows us to scale rapidly by tapping into (a) huge outstanding receivable pool of blue-chip corporates while maintaining profitability.”
The company also offers working capital loans and other financing solutions like term loans, overdraft facilities, supply chain financing and bill discounting limits to SMEs.
Its offerings include a credit line of up to Rs 2 crore to businesses that are looking to buy inventory directly from brands/distributors. Mintifi also offers collateral-free business loans up to Rs 50 lakh, as per the firm’s website.
The firm, which houses NBFC Mintifi Finserve Private Limited, offers credit via its own books in partnership with Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, Fullerton India and Muthoot Finance.
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