Pune-based lending startup Lentra has raised $27 million in an extended Series B round led by MUFG Bank of Japan and Dharana Capital.
Lentra has raised $76.6 million in cumulative funding as of this latest investment. The company raised $60 million from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, SIG Venture Capital, and Citi Ventures in the previous Series B round, which was held in November 2022.
Lentra offers banks a full-stack digital lending platform. It was founded in 2019 by D Venkatesh and Ankur Handa. The startup allows banks across the entire life cycle of lending, including loan origination, fraud checks, cross-verifying credit scores, and more.
D Venkatesh, Founder and CEO, Lentra, said, “We have been scaling at a fast pace, and this extended round is a strategic step towards fueling our ambition of empowering lenders globally.”
According to the company, more than 60 financial institutions have used its services, and loan applications totaling more than $27 billion have been completed.
Through its Ganesha investment fund, which is exclusively dedicated to Indian startups, MUFG Bank participated in the funding. Lentra emphasized that this investment represents the first collaboration between MUFG Bank and its corporate venture capital arm, MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP). The partnership aims to support Lentra in exploring potential synergies with the broader group.
Lentra has expanded its operations to Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and the United States by establishing subsidiary firms and speeding up its go-to-market strategies. Its loan management system, 1LMS, was showcased in the Indian markets at an event in May as part of a strategic partnership with Google Cloud.
“This is a testimony to Lentra’s status as the leading enterprise SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform and the transformational role it stands to play in the evolving digital lending landscape,” said Shashank Joshi, Deputy CEO of MUFG India. “This partnership affirms our commitment to be at the forefront of supporting digital innovation in India and its expansion to other geographies.”
