Mihuru, a startup that provides micro loans to air travelers through its online platform recently raised a seed funding of $150,000 (Rs 99.3 lakh) from several entrepreneurs and investors with high net worth. However, the startup did not reveal the names of its investors.
The funds will serve to expand the portfolio of products and services offered by the startup, grow its team and foray in different travel sectors.
“Mihuru will also expand into credit products for travel verticals other than flights,”
said Shruti Mehrotra, co-founder and chief executive of Mihuru.
The founder also shared that the funds raised will allow the company to provide an innovative platform that will allow its users to split payment for their entire trip across months and payment methods.
The Mumbai-based startup provides a service that allows its users to pay only 20% of their flight cost before booking. The firm will buy the travel ticket on behalf of their customers and charge a fee for the service, their primary source of income.
Mihuru is a startup founded by Shruti Mehrotra and Jonathan Nunez Gonzalez in 2016 which specializes in providing micro loans paid later via payment options such as EMIs (equated monthly instalments) to travelers for their flight tickets. The startup operates in the online travel sector which is dominated by giants MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, Yatra among others.
Mihuru distinguishes itself from its competitors by targeting young Indians who do not possess traditional sources of revenue or credit cards. It evaluates its potential customers by carrying out a psycho-linguistic assessment online before approving the credit. The company claims that the assessment can be carried out within 5 minutes.