Exclusive: Fintech unicorn Groww ventures into lending

Online investment platform Groww is adding a new vertical to its offerings: lending. The Bengaluru-based company has started offering credit lines to select users based on their transaction history, according to its mobile app. This comes on the heels of a massive fundraise in October that valued the company at $3 billion. 

The move is a major step from Groww to generate revenue which hasn’t clocked high numbers so far. While the company is yet to disclose its annual financial statement for FY21, according to our data-tracking platform Fintrackr — it made negligible operating revenue in FY20 with a loss of Rs 8 crore.

Groww’s lending feature is quite similar to CRED’s Stash which also provides an instant credit line to the platform's consumers. Akin to Stash, Groww provides instant credit disbursement (sort of personal loan) without any paperwork. 

IDFC First Bank is Groww’s lending banking partner, according to information on the app. Team Entrackr has reviewed the lending feature named: Credit from Groww.

Besides stock trading, Groww also enables mutual funds and fixed deposits investments. The company is also eyeing to enter neobanking and insurance soon. Entrackr had exclusively reported its neo-banking plan in November last year.

Queries sent to Groww’s co-founder and chief executive Lalit Keshre did not elicit an immediate response. We’ll update the story as and when he responds.

In April 2020, Groww became the second fintech startup to gain unicorn status. Six months later, the Keshre-led company raised another $251 million round led by Iconiq Growth at a valuation of $3 billion. Most recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had also joined the company as an investor and advisor.

Groww directly competes with the likes of Zerodha, INDMoney and Upstox. Tiger Global is a common investor in all three firms. With the lending vertical, it would also compete with CapitalFloat, CRED and InCred among others.

While Upstox focuses on stock trading, mutual funds and fixed deposits investments, INDmoney has also started offering third-party loan products ranging from home, personal, against property and against investments. According to Entrackr’s sources, INDmoney is on the verge of raising a $100 million round.