PayU, media and e-commerce group Naspers’ mobile payment subsidiary, has invested $11.5m to lead an $18m series B round for India-based digital loan processor PaySense, the Economic Times has reported.
Venture capital firms Jungle Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners also took part in the round, the three investors having provided $5.3m in series A funding for PaySense in May 2017. The company had previously raised $2.3m in a 2015 seed round featuring Nexus.
PaySense works with finance partner India Infoline to process online loans for customers without credit cards. It will use the funding to increase the size of its technology and data analytics teams.
Siddhartha Jajodia, PayU’s global head of credit, said: “PaySense is leveraging the (Indian cashless service software) IndiaStack platform very well to create additional capabilities beyond those of the traditional credit bureaus to generate strong underwriting of retail loans..
“With these investments we intend to tap into the emerging middle class of India and provide them with easy access to formal credit.”