LendingKart bags Startup of the Year title at Grow Gujarat Startup Awards

The online working capital provider was felicitated for strengthening connect with the local entrepreneurs and community in the state.LendingKart, the online financing company dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small businesses with working capital finance and business loans, was recently felicitated with the ‘Startup of the Year' title at the first edition of the Grow Gujarat Startup Awards organised by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE).Lendingkart shared the award with Ezysolare.

The event Grow Gujarat Gala Dinner, followed by the awards distribution, was aimed at creating a platform for interaction among the various entrepreneurs based in Gujarat for exchange of ideas and mutual benefit. These individuals are transforming Gujarat's startup landscape, attracting investors and talent at the same time. CIIE and IIMA has instituted the Grow Gujarat Startup Awards in order to publicly felicitate these role-models, bringing their achievements to the fore and inspiring future generations of entrepreneurs, thereby reinforcing the entrepreneurial process in the state.

The Startup of the Year award was shared by EzySolare and Lendingkart. LendingKart, which is also an Ahmedabad-based startup founded by Harshvardhan Lunia and Mukul Sachan, was felicitated on the grounds of its impact, traction, team quality and experience, and relevance of problem-solving for the state of Gujarat. The company underwent a rigorous evaluation process, before being announced as a winner by an eminent jury comprising Sunil Parekh, Vishal Mehta of Infibeam, Professor Rakesh Basant of IIMA, and Samir Shah of Sattva Capital.

On winning the award, Harshvardhan Lunia said, "We are delighted to receive this award from our own state. This is where we took our first step and have grown by leaps and bounds within just two years of our existence. Gujarat has all the right ingredients to be a meaningful player in the country's startup landscape. In fact, the state is known for its entrepreneurial energy. Unfortunately, like every other small business, unorganised SMEs and startups were finding it difficult to get loans from conventional channels like banks or NBFCs. We identified the pain area to catalyze the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem and have been successful in doing so."

At present, LendingKart is focusing on e-commerce vendors and plans to branch out in to other domains in the near future including retail vendors, salaried people, self-employed individuals and small and micro merchants who are suppliers to large and medium-sized corporates. Recording a growth rate of more than 30% month-on-month since its inception, the company envisions becoming the largest player in originating, processing and syndicating loans for the Rs 9 lakh crore small-business markets in India.