India's KreditBee raises $80m Series D
Indian lending start-up KreditBee has raised USD 80m in Series D funding from Premji Invest, NewQuest Capital Partners, Mirae Asset Ventures, MUFG Bank, and Motilal Oswal Alternates (MO Alts).
“We are delighted to double down on our investment in KreditBee, which we believe is India’s largest and profitable lending fintech,” Vinit Mehta, head of financial services at MO Alts, said in a statement. “The company is solving the credit needs of the growing and aspirational yet underserved middle-income consumer of Bharat through an innovative platform.”
MO Alts closed its fourth flagship fund in October at about USD 552m citing a mission statement around national economic development and investment in lower-tier cities. Investing in India’s underserved and lower-income mass market, increasingly referred to as Bharat, has become a strong theme in the local venture industry, despite significant challenges.
KreditBee aims to close a demographics financial inclusion gap in India by providing instant personal loans of up to INR 400 000 (USD 4,900) to young professionals. It is a subsidiary of Finnov, which also controls non-bank financing company (NBFC) Krazybee. There is said to be a strong focus on technology, including data-driven know-your-customer functions.
KreditBee currently has 6m loan customers, about 2m of which are active loan customers, and leverages a network of more than 10 financial institutions in addition to Krazybee. The plan is to expand its coverage to encompass 400m “middle India” users and build out assets under management to more than USD 1bn in the next nine months.
The Series D is ongoing and expected to reach up to USD 150m, including a USD 100m tranche led by Advent International, according to The Economic Times. About USD 200m has been raised to date, including a USD 145m Series C last year. Previous investors include ICICI Bank, Arkam Ventures, IndiaSME Investments, and US-based Alpine Capital.
Access to credit is a major pain point in the concept of Bharat, which has underpinned consistent private equity interest in supporting the NBFC segment, even as market shocks have shaken up business models. This has included a strong shift toward retail-focused lending programmes and flexible credit, as well as areas such as gold finance and home loans.
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