FREED, an Indian consumer debt relief platform has raised US$ 2.8 mn in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The round saw participation from Multiply Ventures, Chandigarh Angels Network, Lead Angels, Hyderabad Angels, The Chennai Angels, and a clutch of HNIs. The funds raised will be utilized to bolster the team across verticals, build the tech stack to roll out new and differentiated debt relief products/services to scale up customer acquisition and brand promotion initiatives.
Since FREED’s launch in August 2020, the company has enrolled over 6,500 consumers with over INR 350 crore in retail debt and settled over a thousand accounts with creditors, offering debt reduction to consumers and resolution of bad debt for creditors.
Vinay Bansal, Founder and CEO, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Debt can be stressful and create barriers for future loan requirements. However, with FREED, consumers can clear their personal loans, medical emergency loans and other debt which one may find difficult to pay due to sudden changes in their routine like loss of job, pay cuts among others. FREED is the only debt relief platform in India that enables a person to clear their debt smoothly and even reduces the payment amount with their domain expertise, thus giving the customer a chance to improve their credit rating and ultimately be debt free. IPV aims to extend their support in helping FREED strengthen their services and marketing plan.”
Ritesh Srivastava has been a serial entrepreneur for about two decades. Through his ventures in the Debt Relief space in the US, he has serviced and settled debts over US$ two billion. His last venture was Elitify.com – an online luxe fashion retail initiative that brought in the best of fashion from around the world, for discerning Indian shoppers.
Ritesh Srivastava, Founder and CEO, FREED says, “FREED was founded with a vision to help debt burdened consumers resolve their debt and regain their financial freedom. The problem needed immediate action and FREED will occupy the space of Friend and Financial Resurrector… helping consumers regain normalcy and a sense of balance in their life. IPV has backed some very successful and admirable startups at a very early stage, and we are excited to partner with them in this journey.
FREED is the only consumer facing platform that is aiming to bring borrowers seeking debt resolution and lenders on a neutral platform to amicably resolve the debt given the financial hardship of such borrowers. With the growth in retail credit, mounting NPAs and low recovery rates on late-stage delinquencies, FREED is attempting to solve a $15 billion NPA problem. The current retail unsecured loan book has surpassed $160 billion and is growing at 12 per cent + CAGR. There is a huge opportunity for debt relief in this segment starting from prevention to cure for debt burdened consumers.”
