Amazon to buy Indian fintech Axio on loan

Amazon has agreed to buy it Indian buy now pay later Axioexpanding its focus on financial services in another fast-growing market as it seeks to expand access to credit for millions of underserved customers.

The US technology group, which has held an investment in Axio for six years, signed the purchase agreement in December after due diligence, the Indian startup said in a post.

Financial terms were not disclosed. The Bengaluru-based venture capital startup, called Capital Float, has raised $232 million from investors including Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, Elevation Capital against equity and debt over the past year.

The start-up, which works in providing micro-loans to self-employed people and families for sale on major e-commerce platforms including Amazon and MakeMyTrip, said it supports more than 10 million customers and has built a loan portfolio of more than 100,000. $260 million.

Axio is among Indian startups operating in a market where access to traditional credit remains limited – India has a low credit card market, and conventional banks often find small-ticket loans unprofitable.

The founders tried to overcome this gap by building a lending platform that can quickly evaluate credit, making credit decisions “within two clicks and five seconds.” But like many other startups in this category, Axio has also struggled to grow. Goldman Sachs-backed ZestMoney, which operates in a similar way and was once valued at $450 million, also suffered from e.in the end it was chosen by a traditional company in the sale of fire.

Axio is the second startup Amazon has acquired in India, where it has shipped more than $10 billion to date. Amazon found MX Player you want to download videos in June last year.