[Funding alert] Fintech startup Kissht raises $80M, launches millennial-focused offering

Mumbai-based payments and lending fintech startup Kissht on Wednesday announced a Series E funding round of $80 million. The round was led by Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency. Existing investors Vertex Ventures SEA and India, and Endiya Partners also participated. 

According to the sources aware of the development, the company’s valuation is said to be around $480 million to $500 million.

As per the official release, the latest funds will be used to enhance the product offering for millennials and add other relevant financial products. Further, the startup plans to build a strong loyalty offering in line with the evolving needs of the target segment. The focus will be on driving higher stickiness by offering rewards on the most relevant spend categories like grocery, travel, and lifestyle etc.

With this round, the platform has raised a total of $125 million in funding.

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Along with the fundraise, Kissht also announced the launch of a millennial-focused digital card and payments app called Ring. 

Ring will target young and aspirational millennial users who have a credit card penetration of sub 2 percent. The startup says that Ring will enable customers to pay for ecommerce transactions, as well as pay to merchants, self, and friends. Customers can avail a credit line of up to Rs 30,000 and pay for all expenses in one billing cycle at 0 percent interest. 

As per the startup, Ring also has over one lakh merchants that help them in acquiring customers at the lowest cost. The brand is also building loyalty and rewards for the consumers to improve customers.

Ranvir Singh, Founder and CEO, Kissht said,

“There are over 150 million people, of which the majority are young millennials, who are either underserved or unserved on transaction credit. The transaction usage of millennial consumers is constantly evolving and they always look for ease and convenience. We are offering a one-stop credit and payment solution, which can be used "any and everywhere" and change the way people use credit. With these transactions, we want to create a bond with the customer to help them across other banking needs.”

James Lee, Managing Partner of Vertex Growth, added, 

“The founders of Kissht have a unique understanding of the needs of the new to credit population of India. The multiservice credit and payments offering will revolutionise the way millennials and other new borrowers use and think about credit. We are excited to join this passionate and driven team to deliver credit solutions for the new generation.”