KreditBee Raises $100 Mn Funding From Advent, Closes $200 Mn Series D Round

Bengaluru-based lendingtech startup KreditBee has raised an additional $100 Mn in funding from Advent International in its extended Series D round. With this, the startup also closed its $200 Mn Series D round as another $20 Mn came from its existing investors.

The additional capital raised will be used for scaling the existing business and diversifying product offering as the startup ventures into digitally enabled financial products, KreditBee said in a statement.

In December, KreditBee secured $80 Mn in its Series D round from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Bank, Premji Invest, Motilal Oswal Alternates, NewQuest Capital Partners, and Mirae Asset Ventures. At that time, the startup said that it would use the fresh funds to diversify its product portfolio to home loans, secured loans, and credit lines, and introduce various other services.

It is valued at $700 Mn after the latest capital infusion, according to sources. 

Launched in 2016, KreditBee serves credit and other personal finance requirements through its in-house Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-registered NBFC Krazybee Services Private Limited. Besides, it also has partnerships with over 10 financial institutions. 

KreditBee recently had an operational overhaul after the RBI changed its guidelines for prepaid payment instruments (PPI), prohibiting non-bank PPI issuers from loading credit lines on cards.  As a result, KreditBee, along with several other lendingtech platforms, had to halt its customers’ transactions on its prepaid cards.

KreditBee currently claims to be on track to surpass $1 Bn in assets under management (AUM) over the next 6-9 months.

Speaking about the latest funding round, Madhusudan Ekambaram, cofounder and CEO of KreditBee, said that the new strategic partnership with Advent reinforces confidence in its profitable business model and its long-term sustainability.

“We believe KreditBee’s proprietary underwriting tech stack is one of the best in the industry and helps in its ability to identify and underwrite future prime customers at an early stage,” said Shweta Jalan, managing partner at Advent.

In 2021, KreditBee raised a total of $145 Mn in two tranches in its series C round, with several of its Chinese investors, including Xiaomi Corp, Kunlun, and Shunwei Capital, exiting the company.

KreditBee competes with the likes of IPO-bound Navi, ZestMoney, listed startup Paisabazaar, LoanTap, and Capital Float. 

As per an Inc42 report, digital lending in India is expected to become a $1.3 Tn market opportunity by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 22% during 2022-2030 period from $270 Bn in 2022.