Mumbai, Aug 3 (IANS): UK-based fintech firm Wiserfunding on Monday announced its entry into India by launching the artificial intelligence-backed credit risk assessment tool for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Wiserfunding arrives at a time when SMEs across India are struggling due to Covid-19.

The London-headquartered fintech firm aims to invest $3-5 million over the next three years to tailor credit risk models specifically towards Indian SMEs to reach an accuracy level above 80 per cent.

The investment will also be towards creating technology to connect to various public and private databases to source inputs to automate its models as is done in Europe.

The company plans to partner with three-four banks and around 10 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and cover 8.5 million Indian SMEs through its models by the end of FY21.

"Our mission is to empower the SME growth in India and there isn't a better time than now. Typical to any economic shock, bank lending is expected to decline for SMEs, making it more difficult for them to survive," Edward Altman, Co-founder, Wiserfunding, said in a statement.

"Indian banks and financial institutions will definitely see significant benefit in using a more independent and unbiased risk assessment platform with the entry of AI-powered models," said Altman, who is also the creator of the Z-score methodology for assessing the financial health of companies.

Wiserfunding aims to help lenders and investors tailor their pricing and increase the efficiency of their lending.

The expansion marks Wiserfunding's first international office outside Europe with Avantika Goel relocating from London to Mumbai as the India Head. "We're excited to launch Wiserfunding in India and are committed to set up successful operation," Goel said.