Niro, a homegrown embedded consumer fintech, has raised US$ 3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Elevar Equity. The funding also saw participation from angel investors like Kunal Shah, Nitin Gupta, Bala Parthasarathy, the Patni Family Office, R. Ramaraj and Aseem Dhru. It is founded by entrepreneur-duo, Aditya Kumar (erstwhile founder of Qbera, a consumer lending platform acquired by InCred Financial Services), and Sankalp Mathur (a risk management professional and ex-Citibanker). The fintech startup aims to disrupt the consumer lending ecosystem in the country by democratizing access to convenient and hassle-free embedded credit products for 624 million internet users in India.
Aditya Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, Niro said, “At the core of large-scale transformations lies a single innovation. We believe that embedded finance is one such innovation, and Niro aims to leverage the power of embedded finance to unlock potential for all customer-facing digital platforms to become consumer lending fintech. This will enable them to offer their consumers bespoke and competitive financial products combined with a frictionless all-in-one platform experience. We are ecstatic to have Elevar Equity, as well as marquee Angel investors as our partners in this journey to revolutionize the credit manufacturing and distribution ecosystem in India.”
Sankalp Mathur, Co-Founder and Chief Risk Officer, Niro said, “The embedded finance opportunity is growing exponentially and at Niro, we see this as an opportunity to redefine distribution for financial services entirely. In parallel, this creates an entirely new role for consumer internet companies to become financial services players in the lives of consumers. We are excited to enter the industry with the support of Elevar Equity, and look forward to empowering our partners to offer their consumers frictionless credit like never before.”
Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity said, “Elevar makes only three investments per year, on an average – we look for entrepreneurs with a deep focus on and understanding of the end customer, who can build highly differentiated, scalable distribution models. Aditya and Sankalp’s respective personal journeys towards understanding the challenges in the fintech lending space and their clarity to target a financially underserved market through a differentiated strategy instantly resonated with us. We are excited to support Niro in its quest to build a game-changing venture that can redefine the mass accessibility of credit.”
