NBFC Vivifi India raises $75 million in a mix of debt and equity

Anil Pinapala-CEO- Vivifi India Finance

Hyderabad-based Non-banking Financial Company (NBFC), Vivifi India Finance Private Limited has raised $75 million in its Series B funding round in a mix of debt and equity from US-based investors, in yet another instance of investors betting big on the fintech sector.

While the firm did not disclose the names of the investors, RoC filings sourced by Moneycontrol indicate that the investing entity is named BP IN VPF LLC.

Industry sources said that the funding is $15 million of equity and the rest is debt. The firm is valued at $150 million.

The firm plans to utilise the funding to expand its reach to more consumers and aims to expand its workforce to over 2,000 employees in the next 12-18 months from its existing strength of 700.

"Apart from building on our existing platform, we are also planning to expand our offerings a little bit into the MSME segment...We see huge potential for our product in smaller cities as well, the core will continue to be offered to middle-class of India for us," said founder and CEO of Vivifi Anil Pinapala to Moneycontrol. 

Founded in 2016 by Pinapala and Srinath Kompella, Vivifi is an RBI-certified non-banking finance company (NBFC) enabling easier and more direct access to credit for the underserved communities in India.

Before the $75 million round, the firm raised $6 million in equity from friends and family and the founders pumped in a part of the funds as well in FY21.

Vivifi commenced its journey with its flagship lending product FlexSalary – India's first Personal Emergency Line of Credit. The company is now layering payments on UPI to provide a digital credit card experience for the underserved through its app called FlexPay.

"The investment comes from a strategic investor with a large portfolio of investments in Speciality/Alternative Finance in the USA," Anil Pinapala, founder and CEO of Vivifi, said.

The company aims to establish multiple offices across tier-II and tier-III cities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh initially, with plans for further expansion nationwide. The firm is also eyeing a financial management business foray.

"We are working on one more product that we will launch soon, in the next financial year we will add more new products. For our existing customers, we will also look at adding financial management features as it is in demand," Pinapala told Moneycontrol. 

As per the firm's statement, in FY23, the company reported a revenue of Rs 166 crore, with a Profit After Tax (PAT) exceeding Rs 16 crore for the previous financial year.

"We are planning to double up our revenue and it will be north of Rs 250 crore in FY24, since we are going to be in a heavy growth phase, PAT might not see huge growth. We will continue on the path of profitability," Pinapala said.

The firm expects to nearly double its revenues this year while aiming to disburse over Rs 3,000 crore.