Lendingkart Appoints DBS Bank Executive Prashant Joshi As CEO

SUMMARY

Lendingkart’s board approved the appointment of DBS bank’s former executive Prashant Joshi as its CEO on March 28

Joshi has 30 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry across retail banking, SMEs and corporate banking

Previously, Joshi also served Deutsche Bank for eight years, Standard Chartered Bank for three years and IDBI Bank for over four years

MSME-focussed Lendingkart has reportedly appointed DBS bank’s former managing director and head of consumer banking group Prashant Joshi as its chief executive officer, days after Temasek-owned Fullerton Financial Holdings acquired a majority stake in the lendingtech startup.

A Moneycontrol report said that Lendingkart’s board approved the appointment on March 28.

Inc42 has reached out to Lendingkart for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

Joshi has 30 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry across retail banking, small and medium enterprises (SME) and corporate banking.

As per his LinkedIn profile, Joshi has served DBS Bank for almost five years. Prior to that, he was with IndoStar Capital Finance as managing director and chief operating officer for four years.

Earlier, Joshi also served Deutsche Bank for eight years, Standard Chartered Bank for three years and IDBI Bank for over four years.

Lendingkart said last month that FFH’s acquisition will strengthen its long-term growth prospects and provide deeper financial flexibility to support sustainable growth.

In October last year, the startup announced that its existing investor Fullerton will acquire a controlling stake. At that time, it said, “The capital infusion from FFH will enable Lendingkart to deepen its reach in underserved markets and enhance its technology, taking a giant leap towards fulfilling its mission of fostering financial inclusion for small businesses in India.”

Founded in 2014 by Harshvardhan Lunia and Mukul Sachan, Lendingkart provides loans to MSMEs and has two main revenue sources – income from interest and financial services offerings. It competes against the likes of Incred, Yubi, Indifi and Kinara Capital among others.

It was reported last year that Lendingkart was eyeing fresh capital from FFH amid a cash crisis triggered by challenges in the unsecured loan market.

It raised around INR 319 Cr in its Series D round led by FFH in 2020. Overall, the startup has raised a total funding of more than $369.87 Mn till date and counts the likes of Bertelsmann, Mayfield India, Saama Capital, Sistema Asia, India Quotient among others, as its investors.

In another similar development, travel tech major OYO last month appointed Sonal Sinha as the chief executive officer of its recently-bought G6 Hospitality, the US-based operator of the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands.