Credit Where Due CredAble is providing solutions under three broad areas: enterprise solutions, banking-as-a-service, and small and medium business solutions
By Saurabh Kumar •
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Among the numerous reasons the medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) are called the backbone of India's economy, one of the most noteworthy aspect is that they employ 45 per cent of the country's industrial employment. However, as per an IFC report, the credit gap in the MSME sector is $397.5 billion. That is a huge total addressable market, or TAM.
This is what excited Nirav Choksi and his team which came with the idea of CredAble. "CredAble was founded in 2017 with a mission to solve working capital challenges for India Inc. using technology-enabled solutions. In the last year alone, we have enabled more than $3 billion annually in working capital for India Inc. which includes large, mid, emerging corporates, MSMEs, and financial institutions," said Choksi, the co-founder and CEO.
Today, CredAble is providing solutions under three broad areas: enterprise solutions, banking-as-a-service, and small and medium business solutions. The platform offers value-added financing solutions and hosts over 75 corporate customers, 150,000-plus borrowers, and 30 large financial institutions and banks.
"Financial inclusion has always been at the heart of our purpose, to champion potential so that businesses we serve across the ecosystem can thrive," added Choksi.
Given the startup deals with large corporate anchors, financial institutions and the likes of small businesses, the technology stack and team has been kept nimble, robust and agile to support high growth and prepare for the innovative solutions that are necessary for tomorrow.
"At CredAble, we are invested in creating secure, scalable and modular applications, with an aim to remain agile and iterate quickly to meet shifting customer needs," said Nitin Sharma, CPTO and MD-SME Business, CredAble.
The tech team ensures that the best-in-class technologies in the field of payments, reconciliation, real-time underwriting and several KYC technologies are used. "Our entire tech stack has been built in-house from scratch to develop scalable products that will transform the working capital landscape in the country," added Sharma.
Choksi believes CredAble has no direct competition as it is the only player that is enabling working capital across three key ecosystems: enterprises, financial institutions, and emerging corporates including small and mediums businesses.
"In 2019, we became the only fintech in our space to get our NBFC license approved and last year, we became the only fintech in the country to co-brand our platforms to leading domestic private banks," said Choksi.
The CredAble team believes in harnessing a culture allowing people to build a "portfolio career', enabling them to build multiple skills by constantly providing them with opportunities. This approach directly focuses on the future potential of the individual rather than only their past performance. "CredAble's work culture is one that is built on the foundations of generosity, ownership and is geared towards greater efficiency," said Choksi.
Nevertheless, operating in a space which involves money and is under various regulators, compliance is not an easy task. "As financial regulations are only getting more intricate, compliance might seem hard at times. While ignoring them can be a costly affair, what fintech leaders fail to realise is that compliance can create new opportunities," according to Choksi.
He believes proactive regulatory reforms are the need of the hour to create a positive environment for the growth of fintechs in India. "The sheer diversity in the functioning of fintech firms calls for a widening of the regulatory nets. In addition to that, I believe that an entity-based regulatory framework is more impactful than activity-based regulation when dealing with financial activities by fintechs."
For those aspiring to enter the fintech space, Choksi has these mantras to offer: being obsessed with solving customer pain areas, never be afraid of taking on too much and finally, create value and valuation will follow.
Specs:
- Amount of funding received: $40 million to date
- Year of inception: 2017
- Number of employees: 155
- No. of users/ downloads: 150,000 borrowers
Current Turnover: Monthly invoice financed is ~INR 3,500 Crore
