Merak Ventures, Venture Catalysts, Others Invest In AbleCredit

Merak Ventures, a sector-agnostic early-stage venture capital (VC) firm, has announced its fourth significant investment this year, participating in a $1.25 million (~Rs 10 Crore ) round in AbleCredit, an AI credit underwriting company. The seed round was led by Merak Ventures, with participation from Venture Catalysts and Helios Holdings (Suraj Nalin).

The investment from Merak Ventures will enable the startup to scale its AI operations, along with business growth and expansion.

Manu Rikhye, Partner at Merak Ventures, said, “Credit underwriting, historically a time-consuming process in loan disbursement, is ripe for transformation with recent advancements in AI. AbleCredit's innovative tools promise unprecedented speed and efficiency in underwriting, empowering companies to make decisions faster and more effectively. At Merak Ventures, we are committed to championing such impactful solutions for real-world challenges."

Utkarsh Apoorva, Harshad Saykhedkar, Ashwini Prabhu, and Anubhab Bandyopadhyay form the co-founding team behind AbleCredit. Utkarsh, the CEO, boasts a track record as a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded successful ventures like Reshamandi, Guitarstreet, and Edulabs.

Harshad, as Chief AI Officer, brings over 13 years of expertise to the table. Meanwhile, Ashwini serves as the CPO, and Anubhab as the CTO, leveraging their collective experience in developing products for both major corporations such as HDFC, Kotak, ICICI, and Ujjivan, as well as for small-scale cottage industries.

“Emerging economies are facing a significant credit gap in the MSME sector, leading to unemployment and economic barriers. At AbleCredit, our AI system leverages voice, vision, and language capabilities to extend credit analysis into traditionally overlooked sectors. This approach enables us to serve a wide range of industries by analysing alternative data sources to produce comprehensive credit assessments. We’re thrilled to announce our new funding round and to welcome Merak Ventures, who support our mission to bridge economic disparities and enhance financial well-being.” said Utkarsh Apoorva, Co-founder and CEO of AbleCredit.