Kissht: A leading consumer startup
Kissht is a consumer credit start-up company founded in 2015 by former McKinsey consultants Krishnan Vishwanathan and Ranvir Singh. The company works on an idea where it allows consumers to pay for their online orders in monthly instalments without credit card.
Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal has invested 50 crores through debt in Kissht. Last year, Kissht closed Rs 206; it is now increasing its focus on small-sized merchants in the offline space. It is believed to be in talks with other investors to raise about Rs. 350 crore in equity funding, while it has got Bansal’s backing via BACQ.
According to the website of the company, it has tried up with over 50 online stores merchants’ partners such as Amazon, Caratlane, Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, and Uber and more than 3,000 offline stores.
The debt can be converted into equity shares in case there are some repayment issues. The investment is made through BAC Acquisition Pvt Ltd. The company from which he invested is helped by investment banker Ankit Agarwal.
Sachin Bansal’s investing saga continues
According to the reports, Sachin Bansal has invested about 25 crores in a microfinance firm Chaitanya India Finance run by Chaitanya Rural Intermediation development services. The company has allotted 250 shares with a face value of 10 lakh each. Chaitanya India Finance was founded in 2009 during Andhra micro-finance crisis, started by Anand Rao.
On July 15, it was reported that he has also invested 200 crores in debt which are non-convertible debentures (NCDs) paper issued by Piramal Enterprises Ltd. Piramal enterprises has their business interest in Financial and pharma services owned by Ajay Piramal. Bansal has invested Rs 250 crores in Altico Capital and Indostar Capital Finance in February.
Bansal’s other investments
Last year, after Bansal sold his stake in online retailer Flipkart to the US-based Walmart; he has doubled on the debt and lending space. Since then, he has invested in debt investments which include non-banking lenders such as IndoStar Capital Finance, Altico Capital and Northern Arc Capital. Other than this, he also invested in Piramal Enterprises, two-wheeler rental startups Vogo and Bounce.
