Business Today – August 25, 2019

THE BUZZ

START-UP

The Founder
Sameer Aggarwal, an
engineering graduate
who did his MBA from
IIT-Kharagpur. Before
launching RevFin,
Aggarwal worked for
HSBC in London.

The Trigger
After coming back to India
in 2017, he was shocked to
find how Delhi was engulfed
in toxic air and wanted to
start a green business. A
chance meeting with an
e-rickshaw manufacturer
also made him realise how
credit crunch plagued
people keen on owning and
driving e-rickshaws for a
living, and RevFin was born.

The Business

The start-up has developed

a digital lending platform to

fund e-rickshaw and electric

two-wheeler owners, and

loan disbursement is done

through its NBFC arm,

Aristo Securities, which

RevFin acquired last year.

The company has also tied up

with nine EV manufacturers

whose dealers (a total of 20)

help it reach out to people.

“Our consumers mostly hail

from Tier-II and Tier-III

cities,” says Aggarwal.

In a bid to mitigate

credit risks, RevFin has

implemented a four-

pronged method, including

documentation, biometric

verification, psychometric

assessment and even physical

verification. Anyone looking

for a loan must download the

company’s app and upload

his/her identity proof and

other relevant documents.

Next, the applicant should

record a video that captures

all biometric details.

Finally, there is a two-stage

psychometric test. Initially,

the potential customer has

to undergo an online Q&A

session regarding loan and

repayment history. In the

second stage, simple questions

are asked to assess overall

personality, based on which

loan approval and credit

limit are determined. “With

psychometrics, we try to

understand their attitude

towards life. We often ask

how the person spends the

weekend. If someone is

mostly sleeping during the

weekend (which shows lack of

initiative), he is less likely to

repay the loan than someone

who cleans the house.”

The Road Ahead

RevFin is looking at a loan

book of `3,000 crore in the

next five years and wants to

enter the solar panel space

in 2019. But the current

liquidity crisis has hurt the

company’s expansion plans.

“We are ready for the next

phase of growth, but funding

is not coming through,” rues

Aggarwal. “Also, 15 per cent of

our total collection comes in

cash as many of our customers

are not conversant with digital

payments, and that poses

operational issues.”

THE DELHI-BASED

FIRM FINANCES

OWNERS OF

E-RICKSHAWS

AND ELECTRIC

TWO-WHEELERS,

AND WILL

SOON SUPPORT

CLEANTECH

PRODUCT

MANUFACTURERS.

By Aprajita Sharma

Photograph by

Shekhar Ghosh

REVFIN

GREEN

LENDING

18 BUSINESS TODAY I August 25 I 2019

RevFin Founder

Sameer Aggarwal

KEY

NUMBERS

FOUNDED IN

Mar 2018

TEAM MEMBERS

11

FUNDING

` 5 CRORE

in seed funding

from a clutch of

angel investors

NUMBER OF LOANS

DISBURSED:

521

TOTAL AMOUNT

DISBURSED:

`5.

crore;

average ticket size

is `1 lakh

REVENUE:

` 26 LAKH

in FY2018/