BENGALURU: Fintech startup Florence Capital is planning to expand its presence to 25 cities, including many Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, by the end of this year.
Founded by serial entrepreneurs and Princeton alumni Poshak Agrawal and Rahul Subramaniam, Florence Capital's products are designed exclusively for women. The app-based fintech platform has extended credit to over 1,300 women since its launch in January 2021.
According to a report by TransUnion CIBIL, there are over 47 million active female borrowers in India. It says over the years, the share of women borrowers has increased to 28% in September 2020 from 23% in September2014.
“We want to play a part in increasing this number and also equipping women with everything they need to become financially independent and assertive," Poshak Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of Florence Capital said.
It is currently operating in over 10 cities including Tier-2 cities such as Coimbatore and Mysuru. "Earlier, we have disbursed loans in Indore, Bhopal and Jaipur on a pilot basis and hope to come back full-time in these locations. In 2022, we want to disburse over 10,000 loans and in five years, we want to disburse over 1.5 lakh loans," Agarwal said.
The company offers loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh with a turnaround time of 4-5 hours. It is also working on more women-centric initiatives to improve women’s access to capital.
The fintech company is also planning to raise a large round of funding in the next two quarters. "In 2021, we have disbursed loans of close to Rs 4 crore and we want to increase this in the coming quarters," he added.
When asked about unregulated players in the digital lending space, Agarwal said, “We look forward to guidelines by the Reserve Bank of India, as they will benefit digital lenders and loan-seekers.”