Goldman Sachs joins digital lender ZestMoney’s extended Series B round

By Narinder Kapur

  • 19 Dec 2019
Credit: Reuters

Camden Town Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates digital point-of-sale consumer financing platform ZestMoney, has raised funding from the United States-based financial services giant Goldman Sachs.

Existing investors Naspers Fintech, Quona Capital and Flourish also took part in the funding round, Bengaluru-based ZestMoney said in a statement.

The statement didn’t specify the amount ZestMoney raised but multiple media reports citing the company said it mopped up $15 million (Rs 106.77 crore at current exchange rates) in what was an extended Series B round.

In April this year, ZestMoney had raised $20 million as part of the Series B round. That round was led by Quona, Australian fintech investor Reinventure, Ribbit Capital, Omidyar Network and PayU.

“The capital we’ve raised in this latest round will enable us to accelerate product development, grow our strategic partnerships and scale our platform further,” company co-founder Lizzie Chapman said in the statement.

Goldman Sachs managing director Philip Aldis said the investment would help consumers in the country gain access to affordable credit. “We look forward to leveraging our global experience and network for the continued growth of ZestMoney,” Aldis said.

The company was founded by Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman in 2015. It provides online shoppers with the facility to open accounts instantly with banks. Users can then avail of equated monthly instalments (EMIs) to make purchases without having to use a credit card.

The startup gathers data from various sources, including Credit Information Bureau. Customers who have not taken loans in the past can get ZestMoney-enabled EMI.

In January, the company had raised venture debt from Alteria Capital as part of its stretched Series A funding round of $13.4 million led by Chinese handset maker Xiaomi in August 2018.

PayU had led the Series A round of $6.5 million in February 2017 for ZestMoney. In August last year, the digital lender acquired PhotographAI for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its capabilities in visual artificial intelligence and optical character recognition.