Optimo Capital, which claims to be India’s digital Loan Against Property (LAP) fintech-NBFC, has raised Rs 150 crore ($17.5 million) in a Series A round led by founder Prashant Pitti, along with existing investors Blume Ventures and Omnivore.
The platform allows MSME entrepreneurs to use property as collateral for larger loans at lower interest rates than unsecured business or personal loans.
It offers in-principle approvals within hours and loan disbursals in under a week, versus the typical 4-6 week process.
The fresh funding will be used by Optimo to expand its technology, AI infra, co-lending partnerships, and presence across tier-3 India, to bridge the $530 billion credit gap in the Indian ecosystem.
According to the firm, around 4.8 crore small-business owners in India currently lack a credit history, making it difficult for them to secure large business loans from banks or NBFCs.
However, many of these entrepreneurs own a home or shop, which represents a valuable but underutilised asset. Optimo provides loans against such property as collateral.
“Optimo is unlocking India’s biggest asset (53% of the nation’s wealth), its land and property, by allowing property-owners to quickly get secured-loans,” said Prashant Pitti, the company’s founder & MD.
“India’s Mortgage-to-GDP ratio is just 9% versus above 50% in developed economies; clearly we are not utilising our biggest wealth to grow our GDP faster,” he added.
In the past, Optimo has raised debt of Rs 110 crore from IDFC, and Axis Bank.
Going forward, several PSU banks and large NBFCs are expected to be added as its debtors or co-lending partners, it said in a statement.
