Mumbai based digital lending platform PaySense has announced that it has raised $18 million in a series B round of funding led by PayU, and two other existing investors- Jungle Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners, the Economic Times reports. PayU — which has invested in PaySense in a previously conducted Series A round — has now pumped in $11.5 million. It remains unclear how much money was invested by the other two players.
PaySense is a digital lending platform that connects customers — who would need instant credit for a specific purpose — to its lending partner, India Infoline, a non banking finance company to process the loans. Founded by Ranganathan and Sayali Karanjkar in 2013, PaySense had first raised $2.3 million in 2015 from Nexus Venture Partners and few angel investors. Last year, the company had raised its Series A round of $5.3 million led by Jungle Ventures. The company has hit the Rs 50 crore monthly disbursement rate already and with this investment, it is targeting to double that number in the next few months. Further the company is also trying to hire more people to strengthen its tech and data analytics team.
For PayU, this is the second major investment in the digital lending space in India, after having infused $3.7 million in ZestMoney, a consumer check out financing startup. Last year, PayU also invested €110 million in German fintech company Kreditech which provides consumer credit scores and underwrites transactions.
“We’re excited to continue to synergize forces with PaySense and are positive that this investment will help us strengthen our position in the consumer lending space in India. We believe India’s fintech story is just getting started and will continue to invest in this space,” said Fady Abdel-Nour, Global Head – M&A and Investments, Naspers’ PayU.
Competition
PaySense will compete with players like CoinTribe, NeoGrowth, Paytm-backed CreditMate, CASHe, LendingKart, MoneyTap, EarlySalary, Faircent, Loantap, LoanMeet amongst others. Earlier this month, digital payments company MobiKwik also announced the launch of a new service that will offer instant loans of Rs. 5000 on its application.
In regards to speculated launches, California-based fintech company Tala said that it was also bringing its lending app to India, while reports claimed that Flipkart is all set to enter the financial services space with a focus on offering credit and insurance products to both consumers and sellers on its platform. Paytm is also reportedly trying to enter the lending space and is seeking a licence from the central bank to become a peer-to-peer lending platform.
