Amazon to acquire fintech lending startup Axio in a $200 million all-cash deal

Ecommerce major Amazon is set to acquire Bengaluru-based fintech Axio, valuing the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) at around $190-200 million, three people in the know said. The deal, awaiting a nod from the country’s banking regulator, is the largest cheque written by Amazon for a buyout in India and signals its intent to go deeper into the lending sector.

"In December, after successful completion of due diligence, we signed an agreement with Amazon for a proposed acquisition of Axio. The transaction will now await the required regulatory approvals," Axio said in the blog post without disclosing details of the transaction. Axios runs the BNPL platform for Amazon as its exclusive partner.

The BNPL platform, which was at its peak valued at around $350 million in 2019, has since seen its valuation erode after it suffered loan defaults in its edtech portfolio led by Byju’s a few years ago.


The digital lending space is consolidating amid the Reserve Bank of India's regulatory clampdown on unsecured loans. In 2023, ZestMoney, one of the country's largest BNPL players, shut down even as other consumer lending startups moved onto longer-tenure products. MyShubhLoans, a consumer lending platform, was acquired by publicly listed NBFC Ugro Capital, while Lendingkart sold a majority stake to existing investor Temasek-backed
Fullerton.

Since its inception, Axio has been backed by Lightrock India, Peak XV Partners ( formerly Sequoia Capital India), and Ribbit Capital. It has raised $137 million in equity capital and $671 million in debt. In August last year, it received $20 million from the Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund.

According to filings made with credit rating agency Crisil, Lightrock held 21% of Axios, with Ribbit Capital holding 17.6%. Amazon has a 17% stake. Among its earliest investors, Peak XV Partners currently owns 9% of the company.

Axio has around 10 million customers and $1 billion in annualised loan disbursals. The platform owns a non-banking finance company licence under Cap Float Financial Services. It offers consumer and pay-later loans through its books and partner lenders.

Amazon and fintech

The deal is significant because if the RBI approves the transaction, Amazon will gain access to an NBFC licence.

With a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) licence and being an insurance distributor, the acquisition of Axio will further amplify its fintech play in India.

Amazon’s other fintech bets in India include stakes in new-age insurer Acko, merchant payments startup Tonetag, lending marketplace BankBazaar, and wealth tech firm Smallcase.

By focusing only on customers sourced through Amazon’s ecommerce platform, Axio has kept gross bad loans under check for the last two years.

It built an AUM (assets under management) of Rs 2,200 crore with 3% of gross bad loans. The startup closed the financial year 2024 with a net loss of Rs 18 crore and total revenue of Rs 384 crore. In its credit note cited above, Crisil said that the company reported an operational profit of Rs 81 crore in FY2024 but was in the losses because of provisioning against loans not paid on time.

While Axio did not share details on the venture's future, it said that after the acquisition, the company will build on its existing business of delivering credit to consumers across the country.