Sachin Bansal expands his financial services portfolio

MUMBAI/BENGALURU: Flipkart co-founder

Sachin Bansal

is steadily firming up his bets in the financial services space with the latest move being a debt investment of Rs 50 crore in consumer lending startup

Kissht

, said sources directly aware of the matter. As reported by TOI in April, regulatory filings also showed Bansal has put Rs 25 crore in microfinance firm

Chaitanya India Finance

.




People aware of the goings-on said this is part of Bansal’s overall focus on the fast-growing fintech sector, including non-banking financial services companies (NBFCs) such as Kissht. Armed with his over $1-billion fortune from the sale of Flipkart, Bansal had mentioned he had chosen fintech and the broader financial services sector as his next focus area during an ask-me-anything (

AMA

) session in Bengaluru.

“They have made a Rs 50-crore investment in Kissht, which also generates a significant part of its online business from Flipkart,” a person aware of the development said. Kissht is a purchase financing startup, which works with several thousands of merchants across online and offline channels. After it closed a Rs 206-crore round last year, it is increasing its focus on small-sized merchants in the offline space. While Kissht has got Bansal’s backing via BACQ, it is believed to be in talks with other investors to raise about Rs 350 crore in equity funding. BACQ is the firm co-founded by Bansal.When contacted, Kissht co-founder

Ranvir Singh

declined to comment on Bansal’s investment in the startup. An email sent to Bansal did not elicit any response on the matter.

Earlier this month, Bansal lent Rs 200 crore to Piramal Enterprises’ debt, owned by Ajay Piramal. His investments in other NBFCs via BACQ have been of a similar size. In February, he invested Rs 250 crore in Altico Capital and IndoStar Capital Finance.

Regarding his other investment in Chaitanya, it is believed Bansal might take a more active hand in running the business since he has now acquired a sizeable stake. According to RoC filings from business intelligence firm Paper.vc, Bansal has been allotted 250 shares of the company, each with a face value of Rs 10 lakh, as unrated non-convertible debentures.

Chaitanya India Finance is a microfinance company run by Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Developments Services, which has a Rs 650-crore loan book and raised about Rs 80 crore in funding till date. Founded in 2009, during the peak of the Andhra microfinance crisis, Chaitanya was started by Anand Rao, who currently heads the firm.