Veefin Marks First Overseas Acquisition With GenAI Startup Walnut

Listed fintech startup Veefin Solutions has picked up a 50% stake in Singapore-based GenAI startup Walnut in an all-cash deal, marking its maiden overseas acquisition. 

Although the company did not disclose the financial transactions of the deal, but said that with this buyout, Walnut’s GenAI capabilities will enable Veefin Group to help corporate and banking clients transform large volumes of unstructured data into actionable insights quickly and accurately.

However, Walnut will continue to operate independently, post acquisition.

Founded in 2020, by Bala Iyer and Lalit Kumar, Walnut is an AI-driven company focused on providing advanced solutions for banks and financial institutions to handle complex, large-scale data. It leverages AI, ML, and NLP to deliver solutions in credit, risk, KYC, and capital market operations. 

Its key product, Vegaspread, transforms financial data by extracting critical insights from complex documents, including annual financial reports, in minutes. Walnut, with clients like DBS and Bank of Singapore, will expand its GenAI solutions across Veefin Group’s 500+ banking, financial, and corporate clients.

Raja Debnath, chairman & cofounder of the Veefin Group of Companies, said “We continue to grow the Veefin Group by bringing in more and more companies into the Veefin ecosystem to leverage the massive client base that the entire group now commands. To this effect, GenAI is a must-have capability for the group. Walnut thus fits in very well into the Veefin ecosystem.”

Bala Iyer, cofounder & CEO, Walnut said, “As we set sights on expanding globally as well as in India, our ambition is to become the go-to GenAI tool for fast and intelligent credit decisioning. We couldn’t have found a better growth partner in this journey.”

Founded in 2020, Veefin provides white-labelled supply chain finance and lending solutions for banks and NBFCs, including end-to-end lending stack, smart credit decisioning, business intelligence, digital identity verification, automated financial statement analysis, debt securitisation, cash management, trade finance, automated accounts receivable and accounts payable and software consulting. 

It counts the likes of Yes Bank, Jio Financial Services, IndusInd Bank, Hero FinCorp, among others, as its customers. 

Last month, it acquired a 26% stake in EpikInDiFi in a share swap deal which valued the latter at INR 125 Cr.

It is pertinent to note that in June, Veefin acquired a 26% stake in Regime Tax Solutions, a company that works with advanced GST compliance, accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) automation.

Later in August, it acquired global IT services provider Nityo Infotech Singapore’s Indian arm for an undisclosed amount. 

On the financial front, the fintech company reported a profit of INR 4.13 Cr in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024-25 (Q2 FY25), up 325% from INR 97.98 Lakh in the previous fiscal year.

However, profit declined 82% on a sequential basis from INR 6.41 Cr reported in Q1 FY25. Operating revenue rose 112% to INR 19.08 Cr from INR 9.05 Cr in Q2 FY24. On a quarter-on-quarter basis (QoQ), the company’s revenue jumped about 21% from INR 15.91 Cr. 

The company got listed on the BSE SME on July 5, 2023 at INR 82 per share. Since listing, shares of Veefin have risen nearly 7X. The stock ended today’s trading session 4.62% higher at INR 567.75.