~Utsav Mehrotra joins as Vice President of Capital Markets and Abhishek Arora as the Vice President of Revenue & Operations~
Ahmedabad, July 27, 2017: Lendingkart Group, has made two significant appointments today, effectively strengthening its leadership team. Utsav Mehrotra, formerly an investment banker with Axis Capital, has joined as Vice President of Capital Markets taking charge of fund raising and marketplace initiatives. Abhishek Arora, who was earlier heading the seller management & growth vertical at e-commerce unicorn in Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region – Souq.com, has come on board as Vice President of Revenue & Operations.
Harshvardhan Lunia, CEO and Co-founder, Lendingkart Technologies said, “Lendingkart Group was established with the vision of meeting the credit needs of millions of small businesses in the country. To achieve that mission, we have been consistently investing in technology along with on-boarding rich talent from diverse backgrounds. Till date, Lendingkart Finance (our NBFC) has disbursed over 12,000 loans in more than 700 cities. As we enter in to the next phase of our growth, both Utsav’s and Abhishek’s roles will be integral. They bring in extensive experience with large businesses that will be critical in steering us as we move ahead on the path of rapid expansion, constantly innovating to meet the funding requirements of SMEs.”
Utsav will be working towards strengthening Lendingkart Group’s capabilities to make credit accessible to small business owners. His purview of responsibilities will include raising funds as well as spearheading marketplace initiatives to develop liability end of the business. At Axis Capital, Utsav managed multiple structured debt transactions besides dealing with fixed income investors like mutual funds, NBFCs, banks and credit funds, both at the domestic as well as global level. With close to a decade of experience in investment banking, IIM alumnus Utsav will be instrumental in bolstering Lendingkart Finance’s loan book enabling them to serve credit needs of many more SMEs.
“A vast majority of SMEs are unable to access credit from traditional banks and other formalized institutions. Lendingkart Finance, through its reach and lending potential is working towards enabling true financial inclusion for small and medium enterprises. I really look forward to working in this organization to help solve for the working capital gap that exists in the sector even today.” said Utsav Mehrotra on his appointment as Vice President – Capital Markets, Lendingkart Group.
As the company continues to expand its reach across the country with the aim of seeing growth of 300% by end of FY18, Abhishek Arora has come on board to ensure smooth and seamless running of the operations & revenue vertical. This will include streamlining of various functions such as origination operations, delivery, process optimisation as well as customer experience. With over 13 years of varied experience across shipping, logistics, corporate & retail, banking and e-commerce, Abhishek led seller growth and performance for the MENA region in his last stint at Souq.com. He has also worked with leading Fortune 500 companies including Amazon, Citibank and AP Moller Maersk Group driving business revenue, business development, acquisition, human resource capability augmentation & profitability.
“Over the last few years Lendingkart Group has successfully built a state-of-the-art technology platform and machine-learning-based credit models that have disrupted the online lending industry in the country. I am very excited to be part of their inspiring growth journey and look forward to play a significant role in it.” said Abhishek Arora, on his appointment as Vice President – Revenue & Operations, Lendingkart Group.
Lendingkart Finance is playing a critical role in addressing the largely underserved market across the country by simplifying the loan disbursal process. It assesses approximately 5,000 data variables to determine the credit worthiness of borrowers. Once the evaluation is completed, loan amount is disbursed to the deserving borrower within 72 hours from the time of application.
About Lendingkart Group
Lendingkart Technologies is a fin-tech start-up in the working capital space. It has developed technology tools based on big data analytics that facilitates lenders to evaluate borrowers’ credit worthiness. Lendingkart Finance Limited (formerly Aadriinfin Limited), a wholly owned subsidiary of Lendingkart Group, is a non-deposit taking NBFC, offering small business loans for SMEs in India. The Company aims to transform small business lending by providing easy access to credit for SMEs. Lendingkart Finance uses technology and analytics tools, analysing thousands of data points from various data sources to assess the creditworthiness of small businesses rapidly and accurately. Lendingkart Group aims to make working capital finance available at the fingertips of entrepreneurs, so that they can focus on business instead of worrying about the gaps in their cash-flows. We are currently based in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Mumbai, but have a service reach across India. To know more, please visit https://www.Lendingkart.com/.