Digital lending startup Kissht pockets Series C cheque

OnEMI Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which runs digital lending startup Kissht, has raised Series C funding from investors led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India and Sistema Asia Fund.

The startup secured a total of $30 million (Rs 195 crore) in the round, it said in a statement. Existing investors Fosun RZ Capital, Ventureast and Endiya Partners also participated in the round, it added.

The announcement is in line with Kissht founder Krishnan Vishwanathan's comment to TechCircle in February that the startup was looking to raise $25-30 million in a Series C round.

Vishwanathan had founded Kissht in 2015. The startup provides collateral-free loans for products such as mobiles, laptops, jewellery, furniture and electronic gadgets. Customers can repay through equated monthly instalments (EMIs), using the Kissht EMI card. The startup lends through a captive non-banking financial company.

Kissht aims to raise the fresh capital to increase its base of both offline and online merchants, deepen its presence across categories, and enhance its data and analytics capabilities, the statement said. 

Vishwanathan said Kissht uses data-centric algorithms to underwrite loans for the new-to-credit and excluded segments while minimising risk. Kissht disburses Rs 60 crore of loans every month, he added.

Investment banking firm Investec India advised Kissht on the transaction.

Kissht has 160 employees. It reaches customers through about 50 portals and 3,500 offline points of sale and offers loans across categories such as consumer durables, electronics, health, alternative energy and education. The company also had plans to launch its own credit card, Vishwanathan told TechCircle in February. 

The Mumbai-based startup had raised $10 million (Rs 67 crore) from investors led by China's Fosun International in November last year.

In June last year, the startup had secured $2 million (around Rs 13 crore then) from Endiya and Ventureast.

Kissht is among a growing number of fintech companies in India that are attracting investors. Most of the capital inflow has been well-distributed across the broader fintech segment, including digital wallet, online lending and payment gateway. 

Other fintech startups that have secured funds include personal finance startup Fincash.com, mobile credit services startup MoneyTap, online peer-to-peer lending platform LoanMeet and mobile payments startup Ftcash.

In April, Bengaluru-based digital lender Capital Float raised $22 million (Rs 144 crore then) in equity funding from e-commerce major Amazon.

Similarly, Lendingkart raised Rs 565 crore ($87 million) in a Series C round of funding led by Singapore’s Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd in February.