Bengaluru-based ZestMoney has entered into a strategic partnership with Northern Arc Capital, a non-banking financial company (NBFC), under which the firm would disburse $400 million in next one year to finance the segments with lower credit access.
Of the amount planned under the tie-up, Northern Arc Capital has already disbursed $14 million so far; it will fund various product offerings by ZestMoney in a phased manner.
The NBFC has been lending to middle-income households and small businesses with critical access to debt capital markets. The partnership with ZestMoney will open up for it a broad array of both domestic and international funding markets, in addition to providing the direct-funding services on the origination platform.
“Building on our decade-long experience of underwriting granular retail portfolios, Northern Arc has adopted a digital approach towards direct lending. Nimbus, our agile platform, seamlessly integrates with technology platforms like ZestMoney, enabling efficiencies of reach at scale. The partnership with ZestMoney has been particularly exciting as ZestMoney reaches out to a large universe of unbanked and under-banked borrowers across the country,” said Kshama Fernandes, managing director and chief executive officer, Northern Arc Capital.
The tie-up with Northern Arc is part of ZestMoney’s endeavour to build a more financially inclusive ecosystem in India by offering options in the segments where there are little credit penetration. ZestMoney’s unique platform uses mobile technology, digital banking and data science to solve the affordability problem.
“We are striving to develop a deeper and holistic ecosystem for expanding our palette of offerings and access to affordable EMI solutions. We have built some great NBFC partnerships over the last three years and are excited to work with the Northern Arc that shares our vision for financial inclusion in India,” said Lizzie Chapman, CEO, ZestMoney.
ZestMoney had also recently announced a strategic partnership with Credit Saison, a Japanese financial services company affiliated with Mizuho Financial Group and the third-largest credit card issuer with over 20 million cardholders in Japan, for disbursement of around $100 million. This funding will be directly deployed into ZestMoney’s core loan origination activity. On the back of such financial partnerships, ZestMoney now collaborates with more than 15 domestic NBFCs to deliver financial accessibility to vastly underserved consumers.
Strategic partnership
ZestMoney had recently announced a strategic partnership with Credit Saison, a Japanese financial services firm affiliated with Mizuho Financial Group and the third-largest credit card issuer with over 20 million cardholders in Japan, for disbursement of $100 million. This fund will be directly deployed into ZestMoney’s core loan origination activity.