Lentra, a leading digital lending cloud platform has announced its entry into South East Asian economies of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to cater to their growing digital lending needs. With this expansion, Lentra aims to reach $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by March 2024. The move follows the company’s latest fundraise of USD 60 million in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), and Citi Ventures.
With this expansion, Lentra will build a stronger market presence and increase credit disbursal by replicating its India growth in the three South East Asian countries. Founded in 2019 by Venkatesh, Lentra provides an application programming interface (API)-driven modular architecture to create tailored retail and business loan products for banks and other regulated lending institutions. In addition, its purpose-built AI/ML platform for a unified 360-degree customer view creates impactful marketing/credit opportunities.
Lentra already has a couple of clients in the Philippines. It has a robust presence across India with 60 partner banks and NBFCs and over 50 million loans processed through its platform. By 2027, the company aims to onboard 250 banking partners, expand its footprint into five other countries, and reach $250 million in ARR.
Lentra’s expansion comes at an interesting time when there is an increased demand for digital lending platforms in these economies. Vietnam forecasts its digital lending loan book value to reach $18 billion in 2025 from $2 billion in 2021. According to PwC, Indonesia is expected to be the fourth largest economy in the world, a potential that can be leveraged by facilitating better access to financing. Similarly, MSMEs in the Philippines contributing to 36% of the country’s GDP remain largely underfinanced making digital lending platforms critical to reimagining economic growth.
Commenting on the business’ growth, D Venkatesh, Founder, Lentra said, “We are at a major inflection point in Lentra’s growth journey. The financial landscape has never been more dynamic. Our learnings over the past few years and beyond will prove critical in delivering future performance and innovation at the levels we demand of ourselves in pursuit of our mission.”
Some of Lentra’s key banking partners include HDFC Bank, Federal Bank, Standard Chartered, IDFC, Aditya Birla Finance, Tata Capital, Tata Motor Finance, and TVS Credit, among others.