Meet Pravas Chandragiri, a 20-year-old entrepreneur from Balasore, Odisha who is the founder and CEO of Soptle, a financial technology platform offering financing solutions to small and medium enterprises nationwide.
Founded in September 2021, Soptle uses a unique blend of technology and an innovative delivery approach to enhance the financial well-being of businesses and optimize their cash flow.
Earlier, Soptle focused on making FMCG distribution easy for consumer goods manufacturers with its clientele of thousands of retailers nationwide. And now, it is trying to help small businesses with access to credit and loans required for growth and business expansion.
Soptle’s seamless, cost-effective, and transparent lending process has already empowered thousands of small businesses, generating a GLV of $20 million. Pravas, CEO of the company, envisions enhancing the financial well-being of SMBs, boosting operational efficiency, and optimizing cash flow.
Beginning of Entrepreneurship Journey
Pravas hails from Balasore, Odisha and has a very humble beginning with a desire to venture into the world of technology and entrepreneurship since his childhood.
At the young age of 12, he became involved in his grandfather’s money-lending business where he learned some valuable insights. These insights gave him a future vision to venture into lending and address the issue of credit scarcity faced by small businesses.
With time, Pravas developed a keen interest in coding and programming. He even created an automated billing software at the age of 15 in collaboration with his friends in their school computer lab. Hundreds of retailers and local businesses widely used this software, and this initial success propelled him to expand his solution and business horizons.
In 2019, Pravas completed his schooling and moved to the capital city of Bhuvaneshwar to prepare for IIT-JEE. There he started a tech company, Profitails.com with credit management and accounting software, and successfully helped over 2500 Kirana stores to automate their processes. Within a year, the startup achieved a turnover of Rs. 80 lakhs, boasting a remarkable growth of 15% month-over-month profit.
During this transformative period, Pravas connected with distinguished professionals such as Pirojshaw Sarkari (CEO of Gati Ltd), Vaishnav Shetty (All Cargo Group), Ankur Agarwal (founder of Dunzo), and a bunch of successful entrepreneurs who eventually became his mentors and investors.
Soptle Startup Story
With the learnings from his first credit management venture, Pravas Chandragiri started up Soptle in 2021 with the goal of disrupting the untapped credit industry.
Headquartered in Gurugram, Soptle is a rapidly expanding fintech startup offering financial solutions to small and medium businesses across the nation.
“Our firm belief is that every small business should have access to the capital required for growth and success. To fulfil this mission, we are dedicated to providing our customers with a quick, hassle-free, low cost and transparent lending process,” envisions Soptle to provide credit accessibility to every SMB.
The company has raised $1.5 million in two investment rounds from Kube VC, We Founder’s Circle (WFC), Iceland Venture Studio (IVS), and Nyra Ventures, as well as founders and CXOs from Dunzo, Jar, Gati, Google, and All-Cargo Group.
“When I started Soptle, my aim was to help the humble kirana store owner in small towns and cities. I never had any doubt about both the idea behind Soptle and India’s untapped potential. Our team has worked hard to make this idea grow, and the pre-seed round is a validation of our efforts. The pre-seed round is another step towards many new milestones. I am thankful to both the Soptle team and the investors for their partnership and passion,” said Pravas Chadragiri, founder and CEO of Soptle, in its pre-seed funding round in May this year.
As a young entrepreneur hailing from a tier-3 city, Pravas is a perfect example of grit, dedication and self-motivated learning. He is driven by a mission to empower and elevate the lives of more than 10 million small businesses across the country.
