Fintech Startup Kissht Raises INR 100 Cr To Expand Offerings To 10 Mn Borrowers

Mumbai-based fintech startup Kissht, has raised INR 100 Cr ($13.2 Mn) in funding led by Trifecta Capital and Northern Arc. The startup has so far raised more than INR 270 Cr in equity and over INR 1,200 Cr in debt investments. 

In the current round, Trifecta and Nothern Arc have each subscribed to INR 50 Cr of Non Convertible Debentures (NCD’s), said a statement from the startup. 

Kissht will utilise the funds to expand its scale of operations, further enhance its product offerings including credit cards for small businesses/shops and further improve underwriting capabilities to extend credit to New to Credit (NTC) segment using AI and machine learning. These are targeted for the smaller towns of India where instant credit is still a dream to many.

Further, the startup said it plans to expand its business to 10 Mn unique borrowers and total transaction-like credit volume to INR 10,000 Cr in FY 2023 (3x higher than FY’2022). Kissht is projecting an overall revenue of over INR 500 Cr and a profit before tax (PBT) of more than INR 50 Cr for FY 2022.

Founded in 2015 by former McKinsey consultants 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.

It offers instant line of credit for small business transactions and small ticket size personal loans to new to credit customers on the back of robust data analytics (Kissht score).

Speaking of the funding, Krishnan Vishwanathan, cofounder, Kissht, said, “Our aim at Kissht is to bring instant, hassle-free credit on the back of our self- learning, strong underwriting and collection capabilities paving the way for lower income and small-business owner segments. This funding will further aid our goal of removing financial constraints, expanding our footprint across tier-2 centres in India.”

According to the startup, it has established itself as a leader in the segment with more than 3 Mn unique borrowers and funding close to 5 Mn transactions on an annualised basis.

In September 2018, Kissht raised $30 Mn in a Series C financing round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia (SEA) and India and Sistema Asia Fund, with participation from existing investors Fosun RZ Capital, Ventureast, and Endiya Partners.

Prior to this round, Kissht received $10 Mn funding in a round led by Chinese investment conglomerate, Fosun International. It also secured $2 Mn earlier in 2017 from Hyderabad-based, early-stage venture capital firm Endiya Partners and Ventureast.

Kissht competes with the likes of Veritas Finance, Lendingkart, Capital Float, Quikrupee, SMEcorner, Innoviti, Biz2credit, FlexiLoans, and KredX, among others.

In the year 2021, fintech and ecommerce were neck and neck in terms of number of deals, however, when it came to the funding amount, ecommerce came out on top with a huge margin.

During January-August 2020, the fintech startup ecosystem had seen $0.8 Bn investment across 84 deals while in the same period in 2019, the fintech ecosystem reached $1.6 Bn in 88 deals in the country, indicating the growth trajectory led by the lending and digital payment startups in the pandemic i.e. 2020.