PayU invests USD 11.5Mn in PaySense

Online payment service provider and Naspers' fintech company PayU on Friday announced an investment worth USD 11.5mn in PaySense as part of a Series B round of USD 18 million.

PaySense, which provides Indian consumers access to a credit line based on an alternative-data decisioning model, it's the second round of investment in which will help realize PayU's vision of seamless credit access to all.

Headquartered in Mumbai, PaySense has the vision to become the leading risk assessment provider for over 160 million Indian households, currently underserved by traditional credit avenues.

It bases an innovative credit decisioning model, by leveraging millions of data points to profile individuals based on their financial behaviors within a Social Graph of a vast number of potential borrowers. PaySense has been growing at a rapid pace and has scaled up the business manifold.

"We're excited to continue to synergize forces with PaySense and are positive that this investment will help us strengthen our position in the consumer lending space in India. We believe India's fin-tech story is just getting started and will continue to invest in this space," said Global Head - M&A and Investments, Naspers' PayU, Fady Abdel-Nour.

"We enable access to a wide array of customized credit products that serve their life's needs - whether its aspirational e-commerce purchases, family vacations, home renovations or a medical emergency," said co-founder and CEO, PaySense, Prashanth Ranganathan.

"We continue to invest in our tech and team to deliver an exceedingly simple, fast and fully digital process for our customers. At this time, it's opportune to bolster our relationship with PayU, as we share an allied vision of enabling more consumers in India to access the digital credit sector," added Ranganathan.

"This investment in PaySense is part of an overarching goal to reinforce our credit portfolio in India and we will continue to strive for that through a mix of organic and investment approach," said Global Head of Credit Business, PayU, Siddhartha Jajodia.