Citi Ventures Invests on Indian Startup Lentra AI, Raises $60 Million in Funding

Startup cloud-based lending software Lentra AI has raised a total of $60 million in funding, as several groups invested in the company. This includes the subsidiary of the New York-based investment banking group Citigroup, Citi Ventures, which will be their first investment in an Indian fintech.

Citi Ventures Investment

Citigroup's subsidiary Citi Ventures joins several investors to fund an India-based startup company Lentra AI as they expand their services internationally including acquisitions and product enhancements. Total funding of $60 million was raised by the company, led by Citi Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Susquehanna International Group Venture Capital.

Director and Citi Ventures APAC Lead Investor stated that "Lentra is our first fintech investment in India, and we are very excited about the team's ability to develop and scale low-friction software solutions for lenders. As a global bank, we look forward to Lentra scaling their products and platform internationally."

Lentra will be entering the markets of some countries in South East Asia by March 2023, which includes Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Aside from these countries, Economic Times reported that the company also aims to have an international presence across five geographies in India by the end of next year.

Future acquisitions are also being considered by the company as they target to automate processes in documentation loan applications. Because of this, the company will be needing to acquire from robotic process automation sectors.

Lentra AI

According to a report from TechCrunch, this is Citi Venture's first investment in an Indian fintech. Lentra has been growing in the market very fast with only $1 million from its annual consumption rate in 2019 to having figures up to $10 million for this year and predicts a hit of $100 million in 2024.

As of now, the company works with several banks to power its services. Some of its key customers are HDFC Bank, Federal Bank, Standard Chartered, and IDFC First Bank. Lentra has 50 clients and above in total, and as per the report, the company already processed 13 billion transactions and 21 billion worth of loans ever since the company has launched.

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Aside from providing help to several banks and credit financial institutions as they digitize credit disbursals and loan servicing, Lentra also provides them early signaling on defaults and debts by observing their portfolios to determine the loan's health.

Chief Executive Officer D Vankesh stated, "With this fundraise, we have a fairly large war chest and will look at opportunities to buy out talent as well as to revamp our systems, in a bid to better cater to our customers."

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Written by Inno Flores