Fintech startup Credit Fair appoints Vikas Agarwal as cofounder & CBO

Credit Fair, a consumer lending fintech startup, has appointed Vikas Agarwal as its cofounder and chief business officer (CBO).

In this new role, Agarwal will lead co-lending partnerships, supply of debt capital, and retail investors/IFA relationships. In addition, he will also lead strategic alliances (fintech) and merchant relationship developments to accelerate business growth of the fintech startup.

He will be closely working with Aditya Damani, founder and chief executive officer of Credit Fair.

Before joining Credit Fair, Agarwal set up a SME-focused non-banking financial company SSA Finserv in 2019 and served as its managing director and CEO. He also founded Shree Krishna Corporate Advisors LLP in 2010, where he advised over 300 SMEs on raising debt worth over Rs 500 crore.

A chartered accountant from ICAI, Agarwal started his career in 2009 with Ernst & Young (EY), India.

“Vikas [Agarwal] is joining us at an exciting phase of our journey as we are witnessing a huge demand uptick for credit at the business and consumer levels. With a proven combination of strategic thinking and strong execution capacity, he will help Credit Fair continue to deliver value to its customers and all the key stakeholders. He will be responsible for driving the operational excellence of the company,” said Damani.

Commenting on his appointment,Agarwal said, "I am excited to join Credit Fair and look forward to playing my role in effectively scaling up our credit delivery ecosystem across the country. I believe the company is making a significant difference in the lives of individuals and small businesses by providing fair and accessible credit. I look forward to working with the team to introduce new-age innovations in financing and capture emerging opportunities such as green financing.”

What were Credit Fair's previous fundraises?

In August 2022, Credit Fair raised $10 million in a mix of debt and equity funding, led by LC Nueva Alternative Investment Fund.

Venture capital fund Capital A, as well as family offices and angel investors, including Sattva Family Office, Nitesh Damani of Khel Group, and Nikhil Chandra Gupta also participated in the round. InCred Finance, Vivriti Capital, and Caspian Impact provided debt capital.

The startup had said it would utilise the funds to augment its technology and launch new products in the wealth-tech space. It plans to enable retail investors to gain access to secured fixed income alternatives previously available only to high net-worth individuals (HNIs)

Previously, the embedded credit finance startup had raised raised $15 million (about Rs 111.7 crore) in a seed funding round in July 2021 led by angel investors Anand Ladsariya and Alok Agarwal of Striver Capital Advisors.

What does Credit Fair do?

Founded in 2018, Credit Fair offers lending solutions to both businesses and private individuals. The ticket size ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20 lakh with a tenure of three months to three years. It is the financial partner for more than 1,000 merchants, including brands like upGrad, Nova IVF, Design Cafe, Asian Paints, Arrivae, Hero Electric and Ampere by Greaves among others.

Credit Fair is looking to reach 5,000 active merchant partners and grow its annual disbursements run rate to $360 million.