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True Balance raises $10 Mn in debt

EntrackrEntrackr · 2d ago
True Balance raises $10 Mn in debt
Medial

True Balance raises $10 Mn in debt Fintech platform True Balance has raised $10 million in debt funding from a group of investors including Northern Arc Capital to support the growth of its lending arm, True Credits Pvt Ltd. The fresh debt capital will be used to expand True Credits’ lending operations and launch new loan products in the Indian market. Founded in 2014, True Balance focuses on providing financial services to underbanked and new-to-credit users. Through its NBFC arm, the company has disbursed more than $30 million in loans during the current financial year. True Balance is operated by Balancehero India, the Indian subsidiary of South Korea-based Balancehero. The platform provides digital financial services such as bill payments, recharge, and lending products to users in India. True Balance’s personal loan platform usually targets borrowers who are neglected by banks and have no credit scores. True Balance has raised $150 million to date across equity and debt rounds, including its $28 million led by SoftBank and Daesung Private Equity. The company raised its last round almost three years back.

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True Diamond raises $3 Mn led by India Quotient

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
True Diamond raises $3 Mn led by India Quotient
Medial

True Diamond raises $3 Mn led by India Quotient Lab-grown diamond jewelry brand True Diamond has raised Rs 26 crore ($3 million) in a pre-Series A funding round led by India Quotient along with participation from existing investors Titan Capital, Winners Fund, and Huddle Ventures. Prior to this, it had raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Titan Capital, along with participation from Huddle Ventures, Zeropearl Ventures, and personal investments from Ashutosh Valani, Priyank Shah, Aashka Goradia Goble, Mamaearth founder Ghazal Alagh, Abhishek Goyal, and Anmol Jain. The proceeds will be used to accelerate its omnichannel strategy and focus on offline expansion, True Diamond said in a press release. Co-founded in 2024 by Darayus Mehta and Parin Shah, True Diamond aims to modernise the jewelry experience for contemporary Indian consumers. The brand focuses on design and material innovation, bold content, and accessible luxury. It has launched retail outlets in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Noida, with more stores planned across metro cities. The Mumbai-based company offers a variety of products, including rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces, mangalsutras, bracelets, and tennis bracelets, among others. The startup also provides customized jewellery and men’s collections. True Diamond claims to have built a catalog of over 5,000 designs and achieved a 1.7x customer repeat rate. The brand offers innovative products with unique launches like over the 160 facet Portuguese diamonds, black diamonds, and many more.

True Diamond raises $1 Mn in seed funding round

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
True Diamond raises $1 Mn in seed funding round
Medial

Lab-grown diamond startup True Diamond has raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Titan Capital, along with participation from Huddle Ventures, Zeropearl Ventures, and personal investments from Ashutosh Valani, Priyank Shah, Aashka Goradia Goble, Mamaearth founder Ghazal Alagh, Abhishek Goyal, and Anmol Jain. The fresh funds will be utilized to build a skilled team, amplify brand visibility, onboard jewellery experts/consultants, designers, and sales teams, launch exclusive boutique outlets in Mumbai and Delhi NCR, and invest in branding and marketing initiatives, True Diamond said in a press release. Co-founded in January 2024 by Parin Shah and Darayus Mehta, True Diamond is a lab-grown diamond jewellery brand that focuses on sustainability, innovation, and uncompromising quality. The company aims to redefine luxury in the jewellery industry. It offers a variety of products, including rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces, mangalsutras, bracelets, tennis bracelets, amongst others. The startup also provides customized jewellery and men’s collections. According to the Mumbai-based company, its lab-grown diamonds are created in a laboratory setting using advanced technological processes that mimic the natural diamond-growing environment. They have the same chemical composition, physical properties, and optical characteristics as natural diamonds but are ethically and sustainably produced. True Diamond offers an extensive catalogue of 5,000 customizable designs, claims to have a customer repeat purchase rate of 1.7 times, and is available across the country.

True Balance’s profit zooms over 2X to Rs 138 Cr in FY24

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
True Balance’s profit zooms over 2X to Rs 138 Cr in FY24
Medial

True Balance, founded by South Korean entrepreneur Cheolwon Lee, started with a mobile and DTH recharge platform. However, the company’s business dynamics changed drastically after FY21 when it started lending (personal or short-term loans). This shift enabled the company to register over 74X growth in its scale in the past five fiscals as its revenue ballooned to Rs 667 crore in FY24 from Rs 8.95 crore in FY19. For context, the SoftBank-backed firm started lending in FY20 through third parties, and a year later it also got its own NBFC —True Balance. On a fiscal to fiscal basis, True Balance’s operating revenue grew 54.8% to Rs 667 crore in FY24 from Rs 431 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statements sourced from Registrar of Companies show. True Balance’s personal loan platform usually targets borrowers who are neglected by banks and have no credit scores. The service and processing charges on the loans offered contributed 56% of the firm’s total operating revenue. This income spiked 63.2% to Rs 377 crore in FY24 from Rs 231 crore in FY23. Meanwhile, the income from interest stood at Rs 280 crore in FY24. The penalties on dues and non-operating incomes (interest from fixed and current investments) took True Balance’s overall revenue to Rs 673 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024 from Rs 433 crore in FY23. See TheKredible for the detailed revenue breakup. For the cash loan firm, the bad debts (NPAs) and their provisions formed 36.2% of its overall cost which increased by 26.3% to Rs 202 crore in FY24 from Rs 160 crore in FY23. The fintech firm had written off the bad debts worth over Rs 114 crore while the rest were the provisions related to the bad debts in FY24. The firm’s spending on employee benefits, finance, advertising, information technology, technical, legal, and other overheads took its overall cost up by 51.4% to Rs 557 crore in FY24. Head to TheKredible for the detailed expense breakdown. Over 50% YoY growth helped True Balance to post a 2.3X jump in its net profits to Rs 138 crore in FY24 from Rs 59 crore in FY23. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins improved to 42.24% and 27.64%, respectively. On a unit level, the ten year-old firm spent Rs 0.84 to earn a rupee in FY24. FY23-FY24 FY23 FY24 EBITDA Margin 22.40% 27.64% Expense/₹ of Op Revenue ₹0.85 ₹0.84 ROCE 32.11% 42.24% According to TheKredible, True Balance has raised $140 million across equity and debt rounds including its $28 million led by SoftBank and Daesung Private Equity. The company raised its last round almost three years back. Looking at the numbers, one can’t help but wonder at not just the numbers, but the impressive balancing act True Balance must manage to stay below the radar of regulators and watchdogs including the RBI. With its short tenure, high interest and high processing charges True Balance tries to balance out its high margins with the promise of 24×7 service and higher risk appetite. But as the delinquency numbers indicate, it must be a high intensity gig, balancing out risks versus margins. Even as margins are winning for now, we still believe the risk of sudden regulatory heavy handedness is intrinsic to its otherwise impressive business. It is also at a stage where the other next stage of growth will be fueled by more debt than equity. Considering the large appetite it can be expected to have to maintain its growth momentum, it will be fascinating to see if it has a trick or two for that too up its sleeve.

Rebel Foods raises $13 Mn debt

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Rebel Foods raises $13 Mn debt
Medial

Cloud kitchen brand Rebel Foods has raised Rs 110 crore ($13.2 million) in debt from Alteria and InnoVen Capital. This is the fifth debt funding for the parent company of EatSure (previously Faasos) after its last equity round in 2021. The board at Rebel Foods has passed a special resolution to issue 11,000 Series G1 non-convertible debentures at an issue price of Rs 1,00,000 per debenture to raise Rs 110 crore, regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show. Orbis Trusteeship (through Alteria) has invested Rs 65 crore while Vistra ITCL ( via InnoVen Capital) pumped in Rs 45 crore during the debt round. The tenure of paying Series G1 debt is up to 01 May 2027. According to filings, each debenture issued in the debt round shall be entitled to the interest of 13.90% per annum. The interest shall be payable on a monthly basis. In April last year, it raised Rs 75 crore ($9 million) in debt from Catalyst Trusteeship (Northern Arc) and Stride Ventures. In 2022, the Mumbai-based firm received Rs 230 crore across three debt fundings. Rebel Foods operates food brands such as Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story Pizza, Mandarin Oak, The Good Bowl, and Slay Coffee with more than 450 kitchens in over 70 cities. It has a portfolio of over 45 brands across multiple countries—India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and the UK. The company is planning to take Oven Story Pizza offline and will open 250-300 outlets over the next two-three years. The Jaydeep Barman-led company entered the unicorn club after a $175 million Series F round led by Qatar Investment Authority in October 2021. The Peak XV-backed company raised its last equity round of $14.5 million in November 2021. Rebel Foods’s operating revenue surged to Rs Rs 1,258 crore in FY23 from Rs 856 crore in FY22. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, its losses jumped to Rs 656 crore in FY23 from Rs 564 crore in the previous year. As per media reports, Rebel Foods is planning for an initial public offering (IPO) by 2025, making it the first firm from cloud kitchen space to list on the Indian stock exchange.

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