Goldman Sachs invests $15 million in ZestMoney

Mumbai: Consumer lending startup ZestMoney said on Thursday that it has raised equity funding in a round led by investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.

ZestMoney employs its own credit scoring algorithms to do risk profiling of e-commerce consumers who opt for equated monthly installment (EMI) payment option and works with financial institutions to give loans to such consumers.

A person familiar with the matter pegged the deal size at $15 million. Its existing investors Naspers Fintech, fintech-focused VC fund Quona Capital and Flourish also participated in the round.

“The capital we’ve raised in this latest round will enable us to accelerate product development, grow our strategic partnerships and scale our platform further,” said Lizzie Chapman, co-founder and CEO, ZestMoney in a statement.

The firm was founded by Chapman, Priya Sharma, and Ashish Anantharaman co-founded in 2015. Prior to this round it raised $20 million in a Series B round in April this year led by Quona.

Goldman Sachs has also been emerging as an active startup investor in India, more so in the past year with investments in Rebel Foods, cosmetics firm Purplle and logistics firm BlackBuck among others.

Mint also reported on November 26 that Goldman Sachs is restructuring its private equity operations in India and globally, with plans to do larger and more strategic deals.