New Delhi, March 20 (IANS): Optimo Loan, an MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) lending-tech business for rural India, on Wednesday, announced that it raised $10 million in seed funding from venture capital firms Blume Ventures and Omnivore, with additional contribution from the company's founder, Prashant Pitti.

With this investment, Optimo aims to revolutionise MSME lending in rural India by leveraging cutting-edge technology and a phygital (physical plus digital) distribution model.

"Optimo lending operations commenced in November 2023, and we are scaling swiftly yet prudently. We aim to establish an asset-light company by primarily leveraging co-lending agreements with banks and larger NBFCs," Pitti said in a statement.

The startup said it is building a co-lending platform for MSMEs with a unique underwriting method.

The novel approach allows Optimo to gain deeper insights into the financial health of MSMEs, enabling informed lending decisions and catalysing entrepreneurship and economic growth in rural communities.

"We believe in Optimo’s mission to democratise access to finance for MSMEs in rural India, especially considering their significant contribution of 29 per cent to GDP. To achieve the ambitious goal of elevating this contribution from four to 15 trillion over the next 15-20 years," said Ashish Fafadia, Partner at Blume Ventures.

In addition, Reihem Roy, Partner at Omnivore, said that Optimo’s innovative lending technology model holds the potential to make a substantial impact and foster enduring change in underserved communities.

"India faces a significant credit deficit, with only 25 per cent of all MSMEs having accessed formal loans to date, leaving 53 million businesses untapped and holding immense opportunity," he added.