Naspers’ PayU may invest in lending startup ZestMoney

MUMBAI: Naspers-owned online payments platform PayU is leading a financing round in consumer lending startup ZestMoney, people familiar with the development told TOI. The $6.5-million series A fund-raise will give PayU a 20% stake in

ZestMoney

and see existing investors Ribbit Capital and

Omidyar Network

also participate, it is learnt. The funding from PayU comes on the back of its $130-million Citrus Pay acquisition, making the combined entity a dominant player in the ecommerce payments market.

South African media and internet group

Naspers

had kept away from striking fresh deals over the past two years but has made a comeback with two significant mergers, PayU-Citrus and

MakeMyTrip-Goibibo

, over the past few months in India.

The investment in ZestMoney is in line with PayU’s strategy to grow its financial services footprint across emerging markets like India. A mail sent across to a PayU spokesperson and Lizzie Chapman, co-founder, of

Zest-Money

, did not elicit a response.

The ZestMoney platform enables instant account opening and real-time credit approval, combined with digital loan servicing and repayments technology, according to the company’s website. The venture partners with e-commerce firms to enable financing at the checkout, enabling

EMI

without credit card.

In a recent interview with TOI, Naspers CEO Bob van Dyik said the group would look at backing early-stage startups after having largely kept away from ploughing fresh capital during 2014-15, which saw a slug of money come in from myriad investors, inflating valuations for young startups.