Lendingtech KreditBee Bags $80 Mn From Premji Invest, Mitsubishi Group

Bengaluru-based lendingtech startup KreditBee has secured $80 Mn as a part of its ongoing series D funding round from existing investors Premji Invest, Motilal Oswal Alternates, NewQuest Capital Partners and Mirae Asset Ventures. The round also saw participation from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Bank.

KreditBee plans to use the funding to diversify its product portfolio to secured loans, home loans and credit lines and introduce services including insurance, credit score report and merchant-side offers, among others.

Currently, it offers small-value credit and other personal financing products including digital gold and claims to be eyeing an AUM (assets under management) of $1 Bn+ by mid-2023.

Launched in 2016, KreditBee was one of the startups that recently had an operational overhaul following RBI’s PPI (prepaid payment instrument) guidelines when RBI disallowed non-banking PPIs from loading credit lines on cards.

Following this, KreditBee had to halt customers’ transactions on its prepaid cards. Despite that, the startup’s business has been per usual, with operating revenue tripling over the year for FY22. 

The startup recorded INR 424.08 Cr in revenues and a loss after tax of INR 84.95 Cr – an 8.7% YoY increase.

The startup had earlier raised $145 Mn in its series C round in March 2021 and $43 Mn in its series B round in 2020. In 2021, KreditBee also saw the exit of several Chinese investors including Xiaomi Corp, Shunwei Capital and Kunlun following investigations by India’s enforcement directorate (ED).

The funding also comes only a day after RBI’s new digital lending guidelines came into play. With the industry mostly ready for the changes, KreditBee claims to have a user base of more than 6 Mn.

The personal loan market is expected to reach a size of $1 Tn by 2025. Within the personal loan segment in India, KreditBee competes with the likes of Navi, LoanTap, Capital Float, ZestMoney, IndiaLends, Paisabazaar and many more.

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