KreditBee, the Indian fintech upstart that provides easy personal loans via its online-only platform, has announced addition of another $100Mn to its Series D round. This fundraise, added to the one it did last month, closes the fintech’s $200Mn Series D round. Valuation, post this, has come close on the heels of $700Mn.
The latest fundraise came in via primary funding from Advent International (“Advent”), one of the world’s largest and most experienced private equity investors. Last month, the company had raised Tranche one of Series D from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s largest bank, along with existing investors Premji Invest, Motilal Oswal Alternates, NewQuest Capital Partners, and Mirae Asset Venture Investments.
KreditBee’s nearly $200Mn Series D round, is a significant one for several reasons. For one, it comes at a time when an economic downturn has resulted in the slowdown of markets worldwide, making it difficult for startups to bring in millions via funding. Fintechs and Edtechs have specially found it difficult to attract new investors, with funding from venture capitalists decreasing significantly in the past year.
For another, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been stepping up on its efforts to regulate the digital lending industry in the country and tackle the predatory practices of India’s digital lending players – and KreditBee operates a platform that offers instant personal loans to individuals and operates its own, in-house, RBI-registered NBFC.
On announcing the fundraising, Madhusudan Ekambaram, Co-Founder & CEO of KreditBee, said, “We are delighted to welcome a long-term financial and strategic partner in Advent. This reinforces the confidence in our profitable business model and the long-term sustainability of it. The latest round will help us to achieve our vision of serving over 400 million middle income population in the country.
The startup, founded six years ago, claims to have six million loan customers at present – of which over two million are active customers – and expects to cross Assets Under Management (AUMs) of $1 billion in the next 6-9 months.
