Consumer lending app RING raises Rs 100 Cr debt from Trifecta Capital

Consumer lending app RING has raised Rs 100 crore in venture debt from Trifecta Capital. With this, the Mumbai-based company has marked its first fundraise in 2024.

RING will utilize the debt facility for on-lending and growing its balance sheet loan book, the company said in a press release.

With this funding, Trifecta is extending its partnership with founders Krishnan Vishwanathan, Ranvir Singh, and the RING team, for a second time and with a larger cheque.

Previously, RING secured Rs 50 crore debt from Trifecta in early 2022. As per the data intelligence platform TheKredible, the company’s parent firm OnEMi Technologies has raised over $150 million (equity + debt) to date from the likes of Endiya Partners, Brunei Investment Agency, Vertex Ventures, Ventureast, and more. NBFC Kissht is also a part of OnEMi Technologies.

Business model and legal structure of the company

RING provides personal credit to salaried and self-employed individuals in tier I, tier II, and tier III cities. With its own NBFC license and access to third-party balance sheets, RING claims to have achieved an AUM of over Rs 3,000 crore for the financial year ending March 2024, and serves more than 1 crore unique borrowers, the company said in a statement.

RING offers loans up to Rs 5 lakh with flexible repayment options. It enables online and offline payments, bill payments, and UPI transactions. Kissht, on the other hand, provides instant credit for purchases at digital points of sale. It partners with NBFCs to offer easy loans through a network of more than 3,000 offline merchants and over 50 online stores in 40 cities.

Recent developments

In February last year, the website of Kissht was blocked following a notice from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) targeting over 200 gambling and lending apps, most of which appeared to be operated from China. Later, however, a government official clarified that this block might have been done inadvertently. It could be due to an error when dealing with apps that sound similar.

After witnessing a dip in FY21, Kissht RING’s parent company managed nearly two-fold growth in scale to Rs 1,020.9 crore in FY23 from Rs 513.6 crore in FY22. The company's profits shrank 5.8% to Rs 59 crore in FY23 against Rs 62.6 crore in FY22, which can be attributed to ESOP-related expenses. Visit here for more information.