Small businesses in India can now apply for loans on MarketFinance India (MarketFinance – www.marketfinance.in) to fund their activities and pursue further growth. MarketFinance offers a wide range of funding mechanisms for businesses including invoice discounting, dynamic discounting, working capital and term loans which are collateral free.

Although small businesses make up 45 percent of India’s industrial output, they don’t have access to enough capital that will help them grow. Established by two INSEAD students Ashwin Chalam and Sawan Shah who share the same desire to help businesses grow, MarketFinance was built to enable small businesses in India get the capital they need to succeed. MarketFinance serves as an online marketplace which connects small businesses owners with Banks, Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), angel investors and High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs) in India.

Ashwin and Sawan combine their financial and entrepreneurial experience to revolutionize the country’s working capital financing space. MarketFinance makes it easier for business owners to apply for business loans in India. They have formed partnerships with 15 banks and NBFCs licensed by the Reserve Bank of India. Additionally, with Invoice Discounting, MarketFinance has created a mechanism to allow individual retail investors and institutions with liquidity to purchase invoices issued by small businesses to larger clients.

MarketFinance India’s online platform enables a borrower to apply for a business loan online, as well as submit all required documents online. These documents and the online application are then submitted to all interested and relevant lending parties through a secure gateway, thus dramatically reduced the processing time taken for a loan, sometimes to as little as 5 working days, and allowing businesses to apply to multiple lenders with just one application.

The principle of competition is also central to the ethos of MarketFinance. The business has leveraged technology to create an online auction platform, where lenders bid to lend to suitable borrowers. As soon as the auction period ends, the successful bidder is the one with the largest loan amount or the lowest rate, depending on the preferences of the borrower. In a space as dynamic as invoice discounting, this has generated attention from hundreds of angel investors and HNIs, attracted to the ability to earn a higher rate of return, for short holding periods, especially in a relatively low interest rate environment. Online invoice discounting has also greatly benefited small businesses who now have the option of selectively discounting invoices as and when they require the working capital, and not being tied to one borrowing party nor having to pay expensive arrangement fees, sometimes as high as 3% of the invoice discounting facility.

MarketFinance has helped a number of businesses get access to funding. In fact, more than 3,000 businesses have applied to them for funding. They hope to help 1 million small businesses in the next 3 years.