Indian BNPL startup secures $4.8m in series A money

India-based Flexmoney – a buy now, pay later platform for lenders and merchants – has raised US$4.8 million in its series A round.

According to a statement, Pravega Ventures led the round, with Silicon Valley’s Z5 Capital and several individual investors, such as former Barclays Ventures’ CEO Ben Davey and serial entrepreneur Ambarish Malpani, also participating.

Yezdi Lashkari, founder and CEO of Flexmoney / Photo credit: Flexmoney

Founded in 2015, Flexmoney offers a digital credit infrastructure that enables financial institutions to offer cardless point-of-sale credit across its network of merchants. The company said it has over 25 million pre-approved equated monthly installment lines from six banks and nonbank financial companies, with more in the pipeline.

It aims to use the new funds to add more lenders and merchants to its network and launch additional products in India. To date, Flexmoney said it has over 3,800 merchants plugged into its platform.

According to a spokesperson for Pravega Ventures, credit card penetration in India stands at only 3% today compared to 42% in China.

“Flexmoney’s InstaCred BNPL credit platform is leveraging technology to democratize credit access by enabling consumers and small businesses to instantly avail short-term digital credit at the point of purchase, without the need for credit cards or robust credit history,” the spokesperson added.

Lead investor Pravega Ventures is an early-stage VC  fund with a sector focus on fintech and enterprise software-as-a-service domains.

Correction (June 15, 8:39 pm): The article earlier incorrectly mentioned Ben Davey as the CEO of Barclays Ventures.