Fintech startup Kiwi raises $13 million in Series A led by Omidyar Network India

Co-founders of Kiwi_(L-R) Siddharth Mehta, Mohit Bedi, Anup Agrawal

Credit card management fintech, Kiwi has raised $13 million in its Series A funding round led by Omidyar Network India and plans to expand its credit cards on UPI offerings.

Existing investors, Nexus Venture Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners also participated in this round.

The fintech plans to utilise the funding to build its product and technology further. Kiwi also plans to hire senior leaders in growth, marketing and data analytics. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru and has a total staff strength of 40.

“We are looking to develop our product and offerings further, expand brand partnerships and expand credit card on UPI offerings as well. We will also be looking at adding more talent,"said Anup Agrawal, co-founder of Kiwi in an interaction with Moneycontrol.

Founded earlier this year by fintech industry veterans Siddharth Mehta (ex-CEO, Freecharge), Mohit Bedi (ex-Axis Bank and PayU), and Agrawal (ex-business head, LazyPay), Kiwi was the first fintech company in India to launch ‘credit cards with UPI’ by issuing digital RuPay Cards in collaboration with banks.

The firm was also certified by the National Payments Corporation of India as a licensed UPI third party app (‘TPAP’).

The funding comes at a time when the banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has told banks to remain cautious about unsecured lending. Firms like Kiwi need bank partnerships to run their business as the credit is underwritten by the banks. Kiwi has partnered with Axis Bank and is looking to add more partners in the coming year.

“What RBI has done in the last one week is coming from a prudence perspective and they want to make sure that there is no overleveraged in the market…This is in fact a good and preventive step. However India is a credit-starved market and there is Opportunity for players like Kiwi,” Agrawal told Moneycontrol.

As per Kiwi’s agreement with Axis, the eligibility is salary of INR15000 and upwards, however, most users on the
platform fall into INR 50,000 plus salary range.  The minimum credit limit on the card has been INR 25,000 going upto INR 10,00,000.

The number of unique UPI users is 8-10 times the number of existing card users in India, and the acceptance points for 'Credit on UPI' are estimated to be thirty five times larger than regular credit card acceptance points, Agrawal said.

“This presents significant growth potential for Kiwi. Kiwi plans to on-board 1 million customers by CY 2024,” He added.

The startup has more than 5 lakh registered consumers on its platform and has disbursed cards to more than 25,000 users and the firm plans to clock Rs 100 crore of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in November. ·On Kiwi’s platform, the average spend on credit card has been ₹22,000 per month with approximately 17-18 card transactions per month

“Overall all the numbers are very positive for us and this gives us more confidence for growth and profitability which we will achieve very soon,” Agrawal said.

Kiwi had previously raised $6 million in funding from Nexus Venture Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and a host of angel investors.

"We believe in the transformative power of Kiwi's solutions and are excited to back the team as they continue to innovate and expand their footprint. We look forward to a successful partnership and supporting the continued growth of Kiwi in the dynamic Indian fintech landscape," said Treasa Mathew, Director – Investments, Omidyar Network India in a media statement.