Kissht holding talks with FB co-founder’s firm to raise funds
MUMBAI: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s venture capital firm, B Capital Group, is in advanced talks to lead a Series C round of funding in digital lender Kissht, said two people aware of the development, requesting anonymity.
Kissht is a consumer credit start-up, which allows consumers to pay for their online orders in monthly instalments, without a credit card. It uses proprietary algorithms to assess the creditworthiness of a potential buyer and processes credit purchases instantly. The digital lender has tied up with over 50 online merchant partners and over 3,000 offline stores, including Amazon, Flipkart, Caratlane, Make My Trip and Uber, according to its website.
“Kissht is in advanced talks to raise its next round of funding. The fin-tech startup is looking to raise $50 million in this Series C round. B Capital will be leading this round and there could be another new investor who will participate alongside it,” said one of the people cited above.
Saverin’s venture B Capital raised $360 million for its first fund in February. The firm, which is backed by The Boston Consulting Group, invests in technology startups in sectors such as healthcare, financial ser- vices and insurance. Existing investor Fosun RZ will also participate in the round, he said, adding that investment bank Investec is running the fundraising process for Kissht. “The capital will be used to grow the lending operations and expand its reach to more merchant locations.”
Kissht had raised $10 million in its last round, which was led by Fosun RZ Capital, with participation from Prophet Capital, Beijing, and existing investors Ventureast and Endiya Partners. In 2016, Kissht had raised a $3-million Series A round from Ventureast and Endiya Partners.
Kissht was founded in 2015 by former McKinsey consultants Krishnan Vishwanathan and Ranvir Singh.
Email queries to Kissht, Fosun and Investec did not elicit any response. Calls and text messages sent to Kabir Narang, partner at B Capital, went unanswered.