We bring a verified, high-intent borrower base. You underwrite and fund. No credit risk to Steel Menu in the pilot.
The platform
40,000+monthly active traders
250K+downloads · 4.8★
60+markets covered
Procurement requirement discovered on platform~₹1,000 Cr / month
Paying subscribers5,000+
Revenue growth~30% month-on-month
BusinessProfitable, bootstrapped
The ₹1,000 Cr represents verified buyer-supplier procurement demand matched monthly on our platform. This provides a clean, unmonetized top-of-funnel data layer for credit sourcing.
Financeable cohorts
Traders bidding on MSTC auctions12,000
of which ₹50 Cr+ / ₹25 Cr+ turnover800+ / 1,500+
Businesses ₹50 Cr+ turnover (whole base)2,500+
Businesses ₹25 Cr+ turnover (whole base)6,000+
Turnover is self-reported at onboarding and verified against the GST e-invoice portal's official AATO band before any handoff.
Two products — pilot either, or both
Auction-bridge finance
Traders · ₹10–50 Cr
15–45 day cycles
Short-tenure term loan against a won MSTC lot
Currently pay private lenders ~18%
Pilot option A
Supply-chain finance
Industries · ₹25–100 Cr+
Up to 6-month project cycles
Working capital / receivables
Currently pay bank CC/OD + private ~18%
Pilot option B
Both products are validated in ~100 direct trader conversations and neither is launched yet. Start with whichever fits your book — short-tenure auction-bridge builds a loss curve fastest; SCF matches an SCF-native lender's core. Interest is expressed willingness at a described cost; margins self-reported.
Why we chose MSTC auction-bridge as the wedge — our thinking
Traditional unsecured trader lending faces systemic underwriting challenges: lack of end-use verification, capital diversion, and identity risk.
The need is real and time-boxed. A winning bidder must pay the balance from their own account within days or forfeit the EMD. Today they block their own cash or borrow privately at ~18%. It's a bridge, not open-ended working capital.
The purpose is provable. The trigger is a government auction with a lot-specific Sale Order and challan, cross-checkable against public data. A fabricated win has no valid challan.
The money can't wander. MSTC only accepts payment from a bidder-registered account. The lender-controlled account is registered as one of them, so funds reach MSTC and nowhere else.
The borrower already has skin in the game. Their EMD is at risk before the loan exists; defaulting forfeits it and blocks future bidding.
It self-liquidates fast. Traders resell in 15–45 days. Short tenor, quick repayment — and a loss curve you can read in weeks, not years.
History is verifiable. EMD and balance payments sit in bank statements — visible via Account Aggregator — so underwriting rests on real bidding behaviour, not self-reported turnover.
It repeats. These traders bid weekly or monthly, so each borrower is a recurring relationship, with bureau reporting as the behavioural guard.
Risk Recognition: Post-resale of the lot, the structure transitions to clean, behavior-backed exposure. That's why we propose a small pilot and no guarantees we can't price — the security is behavioural and verifiable, not collateral. And these 12,000 bidders aren't reachable through any other platform; they're already on ours.
How an auction-bridge loan flows (SCF runs on the same onboarding and verification rails)
Onboard onceTrader checks eligibility in the app → GST + PAN + KYC + consent (Account Aggregator) → Steel Menu pre-screens → lender assesses and pre-approves.
Win a lotTrader submits the lot-specific MSTC Sale Order and challan. Authenticity checked against public auction data.
Per-win term loanA discrete short-tenure term loan is disbursed against that win — structured as term loans, in line with RBI's current direction for NBFCs.
Compliant fund flowMSTC accepts payment only from a bidder-registered account (up to three per bidder). The lender-controlled disbursement account is registered as one of them — payment reaches MSTC from a legitimate bidder account while the lender keeps end-use control.
Repay on scheduleSelf-liquidating on resale for traders. Bureau reporting for behaviour.
Who does what
Steel Menu
Sources borrowers through the app
Captures consented application + win documents
Pre-screens: AATO band, AA data, challan
Displays status set by the lender
Lending partner
Verifies and underwrites
Sets limits, makes every credit decision
Disburses and collects
Owns the loan and the customer relationship
Two lines never crossed: Steel Menu never decides credit, and loan money never flows through Steel Menu.
Team
Four cofounders — three met in college, the fourth is an active steel trader with hands-on procurement experience. Technology led by Shubham Shahi (ex-Cognizant, JIIT); operations and market by Prince Kumar Kasaudhan, from a steel-trading family. Bootstrapped from a $25 developer fee to a profitable business.
Proposed pilot
Borrowers25–50
Ticket size₹5–50 L per loan
Tenor30–60 days (auction-bridge) · 90–180 days (SCF)
Duration90 days — two trader cycles, one SCF cycle
Borrower floor₹25 Cr turnover (₹10 Cr if you want the trader segment)
Steel Menu's rolePure sourcing — no FLDG, no credit risk in pilot
Every number is a starting point — cohort, threshold and tenor calibrated together on verified data. The goal of 90 days is one decision: scale or stop.
Commercial models we're open to
Phase 1: Sourcing / Origination Fee Model
As it deepensShare of interest spread on disbursed volume
TermsNon-exclusive · no credit risk to Steel Menu in pilot
Proposed next step
A 90-day pilot of 25–50 borrowers on whichever product fits your book — auction-bridge for the trader cohort, supply-chain finance for the ₹25 Cr+ cohort, or both. Tell us which, and we start sourcing.