Avail Finance Partners with Ola

Online lending start-up Avail Finance has entered into a strategic partnership with India’s largest mobility platform, Ola, to build financial solutions for its base of 1.5 million driver-partners. As part of this partnership, Ola will be making a strategic investment in Avail Finance in its Series A round of funding. The company has already raised $9 million in the round led by Matrix Partners.

Avail Finance provides unsecured online loans, amongst other financial solutions, to the blue-collared workforce of India, hitherto untapped and unserved by the traditional financial sector. According to a recent jobs report, this segment currently accounts for nearly 78 percent of India’s workforce with an additional 2 million+ blue-collared jobs are expected to be created in the next 12 months. This segment largely comprises of drivers, security guards, beauticians, construction, manufacturing, domestic and maintenance workers, among others. Within this population, the income fluctuates vastly and banking institutions are typically reluctant to offer them financial services. In addition to small ticket size loans, Avail also offers micro insurance and micro savings products tailored for the blue-collared workforce, helping them even out their cash flows.