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Venture debt firm Stride Capital’s non banking financial company (NBFC) arm StrideOne has raised ₹100 Cr (about $11 Mn) in a mix of equity and debt capital from undisclosed investors. StrideOne plans to deploy the freshly raised capital in fueling expansion of enterprise anchor programs, strengthening StrideOne’s partner-lender network and building technology and risk infrastructure.
Along with the fresh capital, the NBFC also announced the appointment of Axis Max Life Insurance’s former chairman Rajesh Sud as its cofounder and chairman. In his role, Sud will be responsible to drive StrideOne’s long-term strategy, strengthen governance and risk frameworks. Notably, Sud has also taken an equity stake in the company under undisclosed financial terms.
A majority of the finance veteran’s over three decade long career was with Axis Max Life Insurance. As a founding member and later CEO & Managing Director of Axis Max Life Insurance, he led the company for nearly two decades.
He has also served as chairman of Niva Bupa Health Insurance and as Managing Director – Financial Services at Bharti Enterprises, where he oversaw Bharti AXA Life Insurance and Bharti AXA General Insurance, while serving on the board of Airtel Payments Bank. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Bank of America and ANZ Bank.
In 2024, StrideOne also roped in former GE Capital chief financial officer Hardeep Singh as its first CFO to strengthen its financial strategy and operations, supporting growth and scaling of startups.
Founded by Ishpreet Gandhi and Abhinav Suri in 2021, StrideOne provides financial solutions to MSMEs and SMEs across India. Its solution suite includes supply chain financing, MSME financing, receivable management, and platform financing. Notably, Gandhi and Suri are also the founders of venture debt firm Stride Ventures.
In 2022, the company raised ₹250 Cr in its seed funding round from Elevar Equity to create financial products for startups as well as MSMEs.
As per the data by Ministry Of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), India is home to over 7.8 Cr MSMEs as of early 2026. With this number growing continuously, the demand for credit from these businesses is rising significantly.
A report by the TransUnion CIBIL and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) highlights that the commercial credit portfolio for India’s MSME sector grew at 13% YoY as the overall credit exposure increased to ₹ 35.2 Lakh Cr as of March 31, 2025.
In this light, new-age NBFCs like Indifi Capital, Techfino, among others, are leveraging tech to address this issue and provide credit to MSMEs. Recently, Chennai-based NBFC Prayaan Capital also raised ₹110 Cr (about $12.1 Mn) in its Series A funding round led by Peak XV Partners to build its MSME-focused lending platform.
The post StrideOne Raises ₹100 Cr, Onboards Ex-Max Life Insurance Rajesh Sud As Cofounder appeared first on Inc42 Media.
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