Paysense raises $18 mn in a round led by Payu

Fintech player Paysense has raised USD 18 million by selling an undisclosed stake in a round of funding led by Naspers-promoted payments provider Payu with a USD 11.5 million investment.

The city-headquartered Paysense is targeting to be a risk assessment provider for 160 million Indian households currently underserved by the lenders, a statement from Payu said.

This is Payu's second investment in Paysense, it said, adding that last year, it had infused money along with Nexus Ventures in a round of investment led by Jungle Ventures.

Fady Abdel-Nour, the global head for mergers and acquisitions and investments for Naspers' Payu, said the company's mission is to democratise credit across all its markets and Paysense has a great product, an outstanding team and an extensive market opportunity.

"India has one of the largest financially underserved populations in the world. We are constantly innovating to serve this population using net new ways of assessing these customers through our instant credit decisioning models," Paysense's co-founder and chief executive Prashanth Ranganathan said.

Credit products offered by the company include aspirational e-commerce purchases, family vacations, home renovations or a medical emergency, he said.

Payu's global head for credit business Siddhartha Jajodia said it believes in strategic use of data which Paysense is doing and added that its investee company has a robust growth trajectory and a "high potential to become a strong alternative to the current credit infrastructure.