Kissht raises $30M in Series C funding led by Vertex Ventures and Sistema Asia Fund

Digital lending platform Kissht plans to use new funds to increase its base of offline and online merchants, broaden its presence, and enhance its data and analytics capabilities.

Mumbai-based digital lending platform Kissht on Wednesday announced that it had raised $30 million as a part of its Series C financing round. The funding round was led by Vertex Ventures SEA and Sistema Asia Fund, with participation from existing investors Fosun RZ Capital, Ventureast, and Endiya Partners.

In a statement, the company said that it will use this funding to increase its base of offline and online merchants, deepen its presence across categories, and further enhance its data and analytics capabilities.

Founded in 2015 by Krishnan Vishwanathan and Ranvir Singh, Kissht provides purchase financing and personal loans to customers through its financial technology platform that is integrated with online and offline merchants.

Kissht has developed a proprietary self-learning algorithm that assesses a customer’s credit profile in a fraction of a second based on more than 2,000 digital footprints. Currently Kissht’s financing option is present in more than 50 online and 3,500 offline points of sale across categories, including consumer durables, electronics, health, alternative energy and education, enabling customers to easily access credit for their purchases.

Speaking on the fundraise, Ranvir Singh, Co-Founder of Kissht, said,

“Taking a loan remains a deeply undemocratic experience in India. Customers not only want a loan, but they want it in a jiffy. Unlike traditional players, on the back of risk algorithms, we have been neither timid nor tentative in leveraging data. We have just scratched the surface in purchase financing. We aspire to create the indelible experience of dignified lending, which will drive customer loyalty.”

Krishnan Vishwanathan, CEO and Co-Founder of Kissht, said,

“At Kissht, we are continuously striving for innovative affordability solutions that do justice to the growing and aspirational middle-class of India. Our data-centric algorithms and technology platform allow us to underwrite the new to credit and excluded segments extensively while ensuring we are risk prudent. We will use the funding to further accelerate growth.

Commenting on the transaction, Piyush Kharbanda, Executive Director at Vertex Ventures, said,

“We see brand new markets opening up in consumer financing in India, and believe technology will play a fundamental role in addressing this opportunity. However, we feel that it is equally important for lenders to stick to well-understood fundamentals of financial services, such as a strong focus on managing collections, etc. We see a unique blend of these in Kissht, and look forward to working with Ranvir and Krishnan as they continue to envision and build Kissht into a financial services powerhouse.”

Kissht is not the only player in this space. There is also Bengaluru-based ZestMoney, which raised $13.4 million as a part of its Series A funding last month, from smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. This funding round took the the total funds infused into the company (ZestMoney) to $22 million.

Recently, even PayU’s credit product LazyPay announced its entry into the consumer electronic space by partnering with consumer electronics firms Samsung Electronics and retailer Croma. This partnership will allow loans starting from as low as Rs 100 all the way to Rs 1 lakh for a duration from 15 days to 24 months, depending on the creditworthiness of the individual.

Among the other funded players is Capital Float, which announced its foray into consumer loans in June this year. The Amazon-backed digital lender, which just closed its Series C round of $67 million, this year is expecting to reach a customer base of 200,000 by the end of this year.