ZestMoney raises $13.4 mn in latest round of funding led by Xiaomi

ZestMoney, in collaboration with Xiaomi, had launched Mi Finance last year through which customers can buy Xiaomi products via a cardless EMI

The Bengaluru-headquartered digital lending platform ZestMoney has raised $13.4 million (around Rs 920 million) in the latest round of funding led by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi.

The new round, which was part of an extended series A funding, also saw the participation of ZestMoney's all three existing investors —PayU, Ribbit Capital and Omidyar Network. After this round, the total funds raised by the lending platform touched $22 million.

The company said that the funds would be utilised to strengthen its technology and data science capabilities along with the expansion of its affordability product basket.

"We are excited to have Xiaomi as a new investor in the company given the success they have had in building digital credit products in China," said Lizzie Chapman, co-founder & chief executive at ZestMoney.

ZestMoney, which is run by Camden Town Technologies, in collaboration with Xiaomi had launched Mi Finance last year through which customers can buy Xiaomi products via a cardless EMI.

The digital lending platform also provides credit to consumers buying products from e-commerce end edu-tech players like Amazon, Flipkart, UpGrad and Zefo.

With the latest round of funding, the company is planning to expand its portfolio in travel and healthcare segments along with the creation of new flexible credit products.

ZestMoney, which is currently disbursing more than Rs 30 million per day, aims to reach a credit disbursal of Rs 30 billion by the end of this calendar year.

The start-up was founded by three finance and tech professionals in 2015.  While Chapman is a former Goldman Sachs executive, Priya Sharma has worked in global financial services major, Merrill Lynch. Another co-founder Ashish Anantharaman is a software professional.