Debt collection platform DPDzero has raised $7million in Series A funding round led by Japanese venture capital firm GMO Venture Partners, SMBC Asia Rising Fund, and Blume Ventures, which has doubled down since the previous round.
The round also saw participation from India Quotient, Sinarmas Group and others, the firm said on July 6.
The startup had previously raised $4.76 million in multiple small rounds from Blume, QED Innovation Labs, India Quotient and Better Capital besides angle investors like Kunal Shah (Cred), Ramanathan RV (Hyperface), Nishchay AG (Jar), Vijay Rajagopal (Amazon), Nikhil Kumar (Setu) among others.
The fresh capital will be used for development of DPDzero’s multi-lingual AI collection agent and enable launch of a network of professional field collection agents.
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“Collection has been the ignored stepchild of lending; it’s low tech, low intelligence, and worryingly, low ethics, as well. We are building the collections company India has been waiting for-reinventing everything from the ground up, bringing back the dignity it really deserves," said Ananth Shroff, CEO and Founder of DPDzero.
Founded by Ananth Shroff and Ranjith Ramachandra, the firm claims that its revenue has grown 6X in the last 18 months, with clients ranging across fintech firms and NBFCs like Tata Capital, Moneyview, L&T Finance, Manappuram Finance, and others. Some large banks are also expected to onboard shortly, it added.
As per the firm, it leverages behavioural data, AI agents, and human ops to deliver collection outcomes in contrast to outdated agencies or bloated in-house teams that has been prevelant across financial institutions for long.
Rahul Patidar, CRO at Moneyview, said collections has long been the least evolved part of India's lending stack, and “DPDzero is helping change that with its mix of emerging tech, human ops, and borrower intelligence. This is the future of collections.”
“As the credit landscape matures, collections remain its most under-served frontier. We believe DPDzero is building the foundational collections infrastructure by combining AI, execution-first DNA, and the kind of founder obsession required to disrupt the category," said Ryu Muramatsu, Founding Partner of GMO Venture Partners.
The space is seeing a surge in early-stage funding, with startups like Rezolv raising $3.5 million from 3one4 Capital and CredResolve securing $1.1 million led by Unleash Capital.
While newer entrants are building AI-driven platforms to serve banks and NBFCs, established players like Credgenics continue to scale profitably, tripling their net profit to Rs 25 crore in FY25, highlighting growing investor and institutional interest in modernising collections. Other prominent names include Spocto X (a Yubi Company), Creditas Solutions and Skit AI.
Keiji Matsunaga, General Manager of the Digital Strategy Department at SMBC, highlighted the growing importance of consistent and compliant collections as digital lending expands into diverse markets. “By redefining debt collection through AI-driven personalization and real-time borrower protection, DPDzero is helping build a more efficient and responsible financial ecosystem,” he said.
Sajith Pai, Partner at Blume Ventures, echoed similar sentiments, noting that “this isn’t just a collections company, it’s the one that will define how collections in India should work.” He added that Blume first backed DPDzero when it was just “two relentless founders chasing an unsexy but massive problem,” and now, with 6X revenue growth and increasing institutional trust, they’re doubling down on the company’s vision.
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