- Name of the Company: Optimo Loan
- Industry: MSME-focused lending
- Funding Amount: $10 million
- Funding Date: NA
- Dilution Percentage: NA
- Date of Inception: November 2023
- Founder: Prashant Pitti
About Optimo Loan: Optimo Loan, a Bengaluru-based small business-focused lending startup, has secured $10 million in its first equity fundraise. The funding round was co-led by Blume Ventures and Omnivore, with participation from founder Prashant Pitti.
The startup plans to use the funds to expand its operations, enhance its technology stack, recruit new talent, and establish a presence in twenty locations across rural India by the end of this year.
Optimo Loan’s Offerings: Founded by Prashant Pitti, who also co-founded the travel tech platform EaseMyTrip, Optimo Loan focuses on supporting MSMEs in rural India. It provides various financial products, including working capital, equipment financing, merchant cash advances, expansion loans, and invoice financing.
Founder’s Vision: Prashant Pitti aims to create an asset-light company by leveraging co-lending agreements with banks and larger NBFCs. The lending platform intends to bridge the $530 billion credit gap in MSME lending in India by using technology and a phygital distribution model.
Investor’s Perspective: Reihem Roy, Partner at Omnivore, emphasized the significant opportunity in the MSME lending segment. He noted that while 53 million businesses in India require credit, only 25% of MSMEs have access to formal credit sources.
Optimo Loan’s focus on technology and underwriting methods allows it to gain deep insights into the financial health of its customers, enabling it to extend credit to this underserved segment effectively.