[Funding alert] Sachin Bansal invests Rs 50Cr in digital lending startup Kissht

Flipkart Co-founder Sachin Bansal has made a debt investment of Rs 50 crore in Mumbai-based digital lending platform Kissht through his second venture BAC Acquisitions.

According to a company spokesperson, Kissht is looking to close a Series D round worth Rs 350 crores in the coming months.

Earlier this month, Sachin invested Rs 200 crore in Ajay Piramal owned Piramal Enterprises, and Rs 20 crore in consumer electronics startup boAt. He also backed Chaitanya India Finance recently with a capital of Rs 25 crore.

Bansal infused $3 million (Rs 21 crore) in Ola-backed VOGO and Rs 31 crore in two wheeler rental startup Bounce between March to July. 

His other major investments in Indian startups include Ola, Ather Energy, Sigtuple, and Unacademy.

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Through an easy lending process, Kissht helps consumers avail quick loans

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

In September 2018, it had raised $30 million as a part of its Series C financing round led by Vertex Ventures SEA and Sistema Asia Fund, with participation from existing investors Fosun RZ Capital, Ventureast, and Endiya Partners.

The company claims to be present in 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.

Recently, a few other startups in the lending space also raised funding, making this sector an interesting one to watch out for.

Mumbai-based online lending startup Happy received $20 million to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) powered lend-tech model, and InCred (also from Mumbai) closed its Series A round of Rs 600 crore led by Dutch development finance institution FMO along with US-based asset manager Moore Capital, India/Latin America-focused PE fund Elevar, and Alpha Capital. 

On Tuesday, New Delhi-based fintech lending startup Cash Suvidha announced it has raised $2.3 million in debt across the first quarter of FY 2019-20 (between April and June this year).

In April, Bengaluru-based ZestMoney also secured $20 million in Series B led by Washington DC-headquartered fintech investor Quona Capital.

(Edited by Dipti Nair)

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