Digital lending platform RupeeRedee NBFC arm FincFriends has raised $7.8 million in a mix of debt and equity, in a strategic round led by InCred Finance and Grow Money Capital.

The remaining funds, $2 million in equity and $2.8 million in debt were raised from APV Management, an existing investor, while the lead investors contributed $3 million in equity capital.

The startup’s growth and product line will be supported by the new funds. A portion of the funds will also be used to “amplify” the NBFC’s credit portfolio, increase its customer base, and expand operations into emerging countries.

RupeeRedee CEO Roman Aznabaev said, “We are looking forward to using this opportunity to create great value for our clients and stakeholders alike as we focus on increasing our credit options.”

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Mohit Gandhi, head of financial institution lending at InCred Finance, said, “Together with this collaboration, we proactively endorse FincFriends’ objective of providing socially conscious capital to marginalized communities in India.” We are dedicated to working together to create a future that is more financially inclusive.

Founded in 2017, FincFriends is a non-banking finance company (NBFC) that offers financing solutions and loans to customers digitally. It is the captive arm of RupeeRedee, which offers instant short-term personal digital loans to underserved customers.

The NBFC last secured equity funding of $3.5 million from Cyprus-based Digital Finance International (DFI) last year.

The funding round comes at a time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened its checks on the mushrooming digital lending ecosystem in the country. Last year in December, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Parliament that tech giant Google delisted more than 2,500 fraudulent digital lending apps from the Play Store between April 2021 and July 2022.