Kissht, a fintech company, has raised $80 million to expand its product offerings

Kissht, a Mumbai-based fintech startup, has raised $80 million in a fundraising round headed by Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency to expand its product offerings

Kissht announced in a statement on June 8 that existing investors Vertex Ventures SEA and India and Endiya Partners also joined in the latest round. The company has announced that it will enter the credit card market.

Ring, a millennial-focused, totally digital credit and payment app, was also established by Kissht. Ring's goal, according to Kissht, is to become a brand that caters to young, ambitious millennials with a credit card penetration rate of 2%.

Kissht, which was founded in 2015 by Ranvir Singh and Krishnan Vishwanathan, seeks to develop a loyalty service to meet the changing demands of India's new-to-credit and lower-income population. According to Kissht, the focus will be on increasing stickiness by delivering incentives on the most relevant spend categories, such as food, travel, and lifestyle.

"Over 150 million people, the bulk of whom are young millennials, are underserved or unserved on transaction credit... We're providing a one-stop credit and payment solution that can be utilised everywhere and will revolutionise how people use credit. We're thrilled to be working with VGF and BIA (expand). The vast majority of the funds will be used to improve our product offerings." Singh, who is also the CEO of Kissht, agreed.

Kissht stated that Ring aims to fill the hole left by non-top tier merchants' lack of point of sale (POS) infrastructure and banks' inability to service consumers due to increased acquisition costs and a lack of risk knowledge. The company claims that with the new finances, it will be able to expand its product offerings to address these challenges by giving 10 million cards over the next 12 to 18 months.

According to Vishwanathan, who is also an Executive Director at Kissht, "The product would deliver a one-of-a-kind ease and seamless experience in the industry. We're looking forward to the next phase of our expansion, when we'll be focusing not just on client acquisition but also on providing a hassle-free experience and improving consumer delight in every transaction they complete on our platform."

Customers can use Ring to pay for e-commerce transactions, pay merchants, pay themselves, pay friends, and get a credit line of up to Rs 30,000, paying for all expenses in one billing cycle at 0% interest, according to Kissht. Kissht is now a part of the BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) card market.

"The founders of Kissht have a unique knowledge of the demands of India's new to credit population," stated James Lee, Managing Partner of Vertex Growth. The multi-service credit and payment offering will change the way millennials and other new borrowers think about and utilise credit. We're thrilled to be a part of this passionate and dedicated team delivering credit solutions to a new generation."

The business had previously raised $13.2 million in funding from Trifecta Capital and Northern Arc in January 2022. Crunchbase reports that the business has raised more than $142.5 million in investment.