New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- Fintech startup Kiwi, which facilitates credit via UPI for its customers, has pocketed $24mn (Rs 209 crore) in its Series B funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.

Its existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Omidyar Network also participated in the round.

The startup plans to use the capital to accelerate its growth, advance its product roadmap, and sharpen its focus on building sustainable unit economics, it said in a statement. It plans to improve the experience for its consumers by elevating its rewards program and introducing new features complementing its core offering, including add-ons for credit cards and EMI enablement on UPI, it said.

"As credit on UPI gains momentum, our vision is clear - we want Kiwi to be the go-to-platform for users by delivering an unmatched experience across onboarding, payment convenience, and rewards," said Anup Agrawal, cofounder and chief executive of Kiwi.

"The fresh capital will enable us to double down on this commitment, supported by robust product innovations. In the long-term, we want to be at the forefront of shaping the 'Credit-on-UPI' category impacting the lives of millions in every corner of India," he added.

Kiwi was set up in 2022 by Agrawal, who previously was the business head of fintech startup Lazypay, along with former Axis Bank Head of cards Mohit Bedi and ex-Freecharge chief executive Siddharth Mehta. The startup enables access to credit lines through UPI. Since its launch in 2023, two lakh RuPay credit cards have been issued on Kiwi across 600 cities in India

It currently has partnerships with YES bank and AU bank, and plans to add two more large banking partners within fiscal 2026.

The latest funding round for Kiwi comes less than two months after the fintech raised $13 million in its Series A funding led by Omidyar Network India. Previously, it raised $6 million in a pre-seed round from Nexus, Stellaris and a clutch of angel investors in May 2023.

CredRight

Non-banking lending company CredRight has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Oslo-based social impact investor Abler Nordic, with participation from its existing investors Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Unleash Capital.

Abler Nordic (formerly Nordic Microfinance Initiative) will become CredRight's largest equity investor, CredRight said in a statement.

This deal is the first investment of Abler Nordic from its fifth fund that it launched earlier this year and had secured $100 million from Norway's largest financial services group DNB, Impact Fund Denmark (earlier known as IFU), and development finance institution Norfund, among others, as of March 2025.

"This first investment from Fund V reflects both our confidence in CredRight's model and our strong commitment to India as a priority market. By supporting CredRight with patient capital and active ownership, we aim to back a locally-rooted solution that effectively addresses this gap,"said Arthur Sletteberg, Managing Director at Abler Nordic.

CredRight said it will use the capital to expand its loan book, upgrade its technology platform, and extend its reach to more entrepreneurs in Tier-2 to Tier-4 towns.

Hyderabad-based CredRight was founded by Neeraj Bansal, an alumnus of IIM Lucknow, and Vineet Jawa, an ISB alumnus, in 2016. The company operates a "phygital" model that blends digital lending with a network of 125 low-cost branches across four Indian states. It provides credit to micro-enterprises.

CredRight previously raised an external funding round about two years ago in August 2023, when it secured $9.7 million (Rs 78 crore) in a mix of equity and debt. The equity round was led by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation with participation from existing investors including YourNest, Spearhead Capital, 9Unicorns and AccionVenture Lab.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.