Fintech lender KreditBee raises Rs 60 crore from SIDBI's India SME

Mumbai: KreditBee has raised Rs 60 crore (about $8 million) in equity and debt from SIDBI’s investment arm—India SME Investments, the fintech lender said.

The funding is part of its Series C round, in which the startup earlier this year raised about $145 million from the likes of Premji Invest, Mirae Asset Ventures, TPG-backed NewQuest Capital Partners and Motilal Oswal Private Equity. India SME invested Rs 28.4 crore in September 2019 as debt in Krazybee Services, the holding company of KreditBee.

KreditBee specialises in offering personal loans through its digital platform to blue-collar workers and the self-employed. The company is looking to expand its lending portfolio by introducing financial services like BNPL (Buy-Now-Pay-Later) and insurance, among others.


Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)-backed India SME Investments focuses on early-growth companies, primarily based in Tier 2/3 cities and targeting the lower and middle-income segments. Its other investments include value-retailer Citykart and jewelry brand Kushal’s, as well as snacking company Priniti Foods.

KreditBee, founded in May 2018, is a non-banking financial company (NBFC). It competes with startups such as MoneyTap, EarlySalary and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal’s Navi.

In its previous rounds, the company raised $8 million from Shunwei and Xiaomi in 2017. It also raised $43 million in equity from ICICI Bank and Arkam Ventures in its Series B round.

The company says it has more than 1,200 employees and a user base of over 20 million. It now plans to target India’s over 180 million new-to-credit customers.