Latest news with #Kissht
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Kissht reports 20% fall in revenue, net profits at Rs 160 crore in FY25
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Mumbai-based consumer lending startup Kissht has reported an 18% fall in net profit to Rs 160 crore on overall revenue of Rs 1,353 crore in financial year 2025, down 20% profits before tax and Esop cost stood at Rs 253 business was impacted by the overall slowdown in consumer lending business and the shutting down on high-margin ultra short duration personal loans, one of the core products of digital lending startups like IPO-bound startup is only processing consumer loans which have a tenure of more than six months and has also entered into secured credit products like loan against property and small business loans as it attempts to become a full-stack digital lending a note issued by rating agency Crisil on Si Creva, the group non-banking finance company of Kissht, it noted that disbursements halved to Rs 9,776 crore compared to Rs 18,527 crore in fiscal the firm's focus on longer tenure loans, the AUM (assets under management) had grown to Rs 4,129 crore from Rs 2,670 crore in fiscal 2024, with 99.5% of the loans being of tenure of more than six months. This share was 65% a year muted performance comes in the context of the overall slowdown in the unsecured consumer lending business which impacted digital lending startups in a major way.'While the interest rate cycle has turned and there is more positivity among companies, banks and the larger NBFCs haven't opened up fully yet, we are expecting things to become better in the second half of the current year,' said a founder of a consumer lending Moneyview and Kreditbee are the three major consumer lending startups which are lining up for their IPOs. While these startups have started working on getting their internal processes in place, ET reported on June 26 that these companies might not actually hit the public market before the end of this year or beginning next founded in 2015, by Ranvir Singh and Krishnan Vishwanathan, ex-McKinsey professionals, has raised $133 million in equity funding from Vertex Ventures, Vetureast and others.
Mint
01-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Kissht adds PB Fintech co-founder, AB Fashion CEO to board ahead of IPO
Online lending platform Kissht has appointed Alok Bansal, co-founder of PB Fintech Ltd, and Sangeeta Pendurkar, chief executive of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, as independent directors on its board ahead of its public market listing. The startup has filed for conversion to a public limited company and plans to submit its draft red herring prospectus for an initial public offering by the end of July, two people with direct knowledge of the development told Mint. 'The company is also in talks to onboard more independent directors, particularly those with banking or finance backgrounds," one of them said. Kissht is working with JM Financial, SBI Capital Markets Ltd, and two other bankers to lead the IPO, the second person said. The company had explored other bankers earlier but the talks fell through. Mint was the first to report on Kissht's plans to file pre-IPO documents to raise about $225 million. Kissht did not reply to queries emailed on Monday. JM Financial and SBI Capital Markets did not immediately reply to Mint's queries. Kissht's IPO is closely watched because of its business model. Founded in 2015 by Ranvir Singh and Krishnan Vishwanathan, the fintech startup offers unsecured loans across three segments: consumption lending, purchase financing (including via partnerships with Amazon and Flipkart), and credit for micro, small and medium enterprises. In 2022, Kissht raised about $80 million from Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency at a valuation of roughly $344 million. An IPO resurgence Kissht's plan for a public market listing comes amid hesitation in India's IPO pipeline. Other digital lenders including Navi, Moneyview, and KreditBee had appointed bankers in 2023 and 2024 for an IPO but delayed the process owing to regulatory scrutiny and heightened market volatility. Public market sentiment, however, appears to be stabilizing. In recent weeks, home and furnishings company Wakefit, fintech startup Pine Labs, and Curefoods India have filed DRHPs with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Navi, Moneyview, and KreditBee, too, have revived their IPO plans. During the June derivatives series, India VIX, a gauge of market volatility, dropped from 24.18 to 14.15, indicating greater stability. IPOs in the unsecured lending space will especially be closely watched given the regulatory caution around such models, a factor that has impacted private funding and valuations for companies in this space. Over the past year, the Reserve Bank of India has tightened oversight of digital lenders, with fresh guidelines for first-loss default guarantees, co-lending partnerships, and peer-to-peer lending, among others. These changes have raised compliance costs and forced business model shifts for several non-banking financial companies. Kissht's assets under management rose to ₹2,669 crore in 2023-24 from ₹1,319 crore the previous year, while total income jumped 3.4 times to ₹1,700 crore, according to a Crisil report. The company has not yet filed its financials for FY25.
Mint
02-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Choppy markets take toll on pre-IPO deal talks
Turbulence in public markets has muddied another fundraising avenue for unlisted companies: Pre-IPO share sales. Wealthy individuals and institutions often snap up shares in private deals, tempted by potentially high returns in future initial public offerings (IPO). However, choppy markets have clouded many IPO plans, sparking caution at the pre-IPO stage as well. According to bankers and lawyers working on pre-IPO deals, investors who crowded such rounds earlier now want to bullet-proof their investments. 'Investors are increasingly asking for readjusted and discounted valuations, more controlling rights or stake, and negotiating on deal closing timelines to mitigate risks associated with the current market conditions," said Vineet Shingal, a partner at Khaitan & Co., which is actively working on several pre-IPO deals. Also read: Digital lender Kissht prepares for $225 million IPO, taps three bankers Some of the companies raising pre-IPO funds include Pine Labs, Porter, Groww, Zepto and Cred. Mint could not ascertain if pre-IPO deals are being renegotiated for them. Queries sent to the companies remained unanswered. 'Given the larger investment size in pre-IPO transactions, where investors have greater negotiating power, coupled with the stock market volatility, investors are trying to renegotiate terms on ongoing deals," said Snigdhaneel Satpathy, a partner at Saraf and Partners. Deals in the startup landscape slowed in 2023, with funding dropping to $7 billion from $25 billion the previous year, following a period of pandemic-driven funding surge. As late-stage deals reappear, investor interest leans on pre-IPO deals due to their perceived potential for clearer and quicker returns. However, market volatility and weaker tech listings have played spoilsport. Also read: TPG acquires Siemens Gamesa's wind turbine businesses in India and Sri Lanka FirstCry shares listed at a 40% premium, while Swiggy listed at a modest premium of 5%. Ola Electric listed flat but soared 20% on the day of listing. Yet, shares of these companies have shed 42-48% in 2025 so far. Meanwhile, CarTrade Tech that listed at a 1% discount is up 14% year to date. Since its September peak, the Nifty 50 has slipped 7%. Meanwhile, the India VIX, the market's fear gauge, has surged 52%, signalling a sharp rise in market volatility and investor unease. 'We are seeing a bit of a downside in terms of both HNI (high networth individual) and retail subscription in recently listed IPOs…," said Neha Agarwal, managing director and head of equity capital markets at JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd. 'This could be due to factors like market volatility, slightly higher valuation, interest rates not coming down as early as expected and economic uncertainty, which have made investors more cautious." Consequently, several investors are repricing pre-IPO rounds or pushing for structured deals to reduce downside risk. 'We are seeing more instances of renegotiation now compared to the last quarter," Shingal of Khaitan said. 'There is certainly a wait-and-watch mode among investors. Family offices and HNI demand for pre-IPO companies, which was strong last year for companies such as Swiggy, FirstCry, Oyo has disappeared. It's hard to judge how public markets will eventually value a company as many IPOs from last year are below IPO price," said an India-market focused investor in tech deals for over 20 years. According to data from Venture Intelligence, Indian startups raised $355 million across 17 pre-IPO deals in 2024, up from $235 million across six deals in 2023. Also read: Why JM Financial's Agarwal counts on results to shape growth According to an industry watcher, a startup founder recently secured commitments from 10 investors for a pre-IPO round, but only two finally signed up since the rest wanted to renegotiate terms as the market turned turbulent. Mint earlier reported that reduced IPO appetite at a time of global turmoil following US president Donald Trump's tariff war has dried up new offerings in the market. 'More than a dozen venture-backed startups in India are currently in various stages of preparing for an IPO. Most—if not all—are choosing to defer rather than cancel their listing plans. The primary reason is compressed valuation multiples," said Iqbal Khan, partner and national corporate lead, JSA Advocates & Solicitors. He said this had resulted in selling shareholders being more open to realistic valuations and structured deals to generate liquidity through partial or full exits. 'Companies are re-evaluating their strategies in light of current market sentiment, leading to slight changes in plans that impact deal timelines and terms," said Amit Ramchandani, chief executive officer and head of investment banking at Motilal Oswal Financial Services .
