Jungle leads $5.3m Series A for India's PaySense

South African internet conglomerate Naspers Group and existing investor Nexus Venture Partners also participated in the round, according to a story in The Economic Times linked from PaySense’s Twitter. The company will use the new capital to expand its team and improve its technology, while also expanding its geographical reach.

PaySense provides personal loans to consumers through its mobile app, targeting young professionals who have not had the opportunity to build up a credit history. The company uses an online filing system to quickly establish borrowers’ creditworthiness, with disbursement of funds handled by its lending partner IIFL.

Currently, PaySense operates in nine major cities and plans to expand into India’s second-tier cities soon. It claims to have serviced 180,000 customers since its founding in 2015 and deployed about INR300 million (4.6 million) in loans. The company typically lends up to INR100,000 at a time.

This is Jungle’s first investment in a consumer lending start-up in India. The firm is currently investing its second fund, which closed in December with $100 million and focuses on Series A and select Series B investments in technology start-ups based in Southeast Asia, India, and Australia.

Jungle also manages SeedPlus, a Southeast Asia-focused seed funds that reached a final close of S$25 million ($18 million) last month.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Early-stage
• India
• TMT
• Jungle Ventures
• Nexus India Capital Advisors
• Financial Services