Former Navi exec Samit Shetty’s startup Nivasa gets NBFC approval

Bengaluru: Nivasa Finance, a secured credit startup founded by former Navi executive Samit Shetty, has received approval for a Certificate of Registration (CoR) from the Reserve Bank of India for its NBFC entity, marking a key regulatory step for the young lending startup.In India’s financial services sector, receipt of a CoR from RBI is effectively treated as the final approval required to operate as an NBFC, though the company confirmed to TOI that it has “not formally received the licence” yet.The development after the Bengaluru-based startup raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by Prime Venture Partners, with participation from Blume Ventures and Whiteboard Capital.The application has been made through Nivasa Capital, a subsidiary of holding company OKA Housing.Nivasa said the NBFC entity would focus on a narrow segment of borrowers who remain outside the underwriting frameworks of traditional lenders, while the broader business would continue operating as a loan distribution and fulfillment platform.“We applied for an NBFC license after noticing a significant segment of creditworthy customers who currently do not qualify for secured loans under the underwriting criteria of existing lenders,” the company said in response to TOI’s queries.About 90% of loans on the platform are expected to continue being fulfilled through partner banks, NBFCs and housing finance companies, it added. The startup currently works with more than 10 lending partners.Since launching in 2025, Nivasa said it has facilitated “hundreds of loans” worth more than Rs 20 crore through its distribution business. It has not yet started lending from its own balance sheet.The startup is initially focused on borrowers in non-urban and rural markets, particularly tier-III towns and villages. It piloted operations in Mysore and Mandya districts of Karnataka and plans to expand across the state over the next year.Nivasa targets households earning between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 8 lakh annually, including customers with informal or semi-formal income streams such as agriculture, dairy and small businesses.Shetty previously served as managing director and chief executive of Navi FinServe and earlier co-founded microfinance firm Chaitanya India Fin Credit. Co-founder Hitesh Saraf previously worked in fintech lending and underwriting infrastructure.