Niro, a homegrown embedded consumer lending Fintech, has raised $3.5 Mn in a seed funding round led by Elevar Equity. The funding also saw participation from angel investors like Kunal Shah, Nitin Gupta, Bala Parthasarathy, the Patni Family Office, R. Ramaraj & Aseem Dhru. It is founded by entrepreneur-duo,Aditya Kumar (erstwhile founder of Qbera, a consumer lending platform acquired by InCred Financial Services), and Sankalp Mathur (a risk management professional and ex-Citibanker). The Fintech startup aims to disrupt the consumer lending ecosystem in the country by democratizing access to convenient and hassle-free embedded credit products for 624 million internet users in India.
It will achieve this by enabling consumer internet brands to offer competitive, seamlessly integrated, and innovative credit products. Niro will drive tangible and measurable impact for these brands and empower them to create new customer journeys, enhancing customer engagement and generating substantial revenue.
Aditya Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Niro, said, “At the core of large-scale transformations lies a single innovation. We believe that embedded finance is one such innovation, and Niro aims to leverage the power of embedded finance to unlock potential for all customer-facing digital platforms to become consumer lending fintechs. This will enable them to offer their consumers bespoke and competitive financial products combined with a frictionless all-in-one platform experience. We are ecstatic to have Elevar Equity, as well as marquee Angel investors as our partners in this journey to revolutionize the credit manufacturing and distribution ecosystem in India.”
Sankalp Mathur, Co-Founder & Chief Risk Officer, Niro, said, “The embedded finance opportunity is growing exponentially and at Niro, we see this as an opportunity to redefine distribution for financial services entirely. In parallel, this creates an entirely new role for consumer internet companies to become financial services players in the lives of consumers. We are excited to enter the industry with the support of Elevar Equity, and look forward to empowering our partners to offer their consumers frictionless credit like never before.”
Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity, said, “Elevar makes only 2-3 investments per year, on an average – we look for entrepreneurs with a deep focus on and understanding of the end customer, who can build highly differentiated, scalable distribution models. Aditya and Sankalp’s respective personal journeys towards understanding the challenges in the fintech lending space and their clarity to target a financially underserved market through a differentiated strategy instantly resonated with us. We are excited to support Niro in its quest to build a game changing venture that can redefine the mass accessibility of credit.”
Nitin Gupta, Founder – Uni, Serial entrepreneur & Angel Investor, said, “The distribution of credit products is changing rapidly and being driven by embedded finance. Niro’s strong team is well-positioned to lead this revolution in India, and beyond.”
Aditya brings 16+ years of entrepreneurial and corporate experience in the financial services and FinTech industry and will lead the business as CEO. Sankalp Mathur, Chief Risk Officer, brings 18+ years of experience in the lending and the financial services industry, previously heading risk for leading Fintech players such as MoneyTap and KredX. Sankalp has also run the risk function for large portfolios at Citibank, Barclays, and HSBC.
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