Newtap Technologies Snags Parfait to Broaden FinTech Reach with Lending

Newtap Technologies Pvt. Ltd., the investment vehicle of FinTech firm Cred that was founded by Kunal Shah, has acquired Parfait Finance & Investment as part of a plan to expand its FinTech platform into the lending space, sources told Economic Times of India for a Wednesday (Nov. 17) report.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the deal.

“Cred (Dreamplug Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) has not applied to acquire an NBFC. Newtap Technologies Pvt. Ltd, in which Kunal Shah has invested in a personal capacity, has applied to the RBI for approval to acquire a stake in Parfait Finance & Investments Pvt. Ltd.,” the company told ET in an email.

Cred, which has a $4 billion valuation after a $251 million Series E fundraising round in October, has also applied for a payments aggregator license through the country’s banking regulator to allow merchants to take digital payments from multiple platforms without individual deals with the service providers, with an eye on enabling eCommerce, the sources told Economic Times.

Cred’s lending platform had a loan book of Rs 2,000 crore (about $270,000) in August with nonperforming asset (NPA) ratio of less than 1%. It offers loans to approved users through a partnership with IDFC First Bank.

Cred debuted Cred Mint in August to allow users to on-lend to other Cred customers following a partnership with non-banking lender LiquiLoans.

Cred’s October funding round — led by existing investors Tiger Global and Falcon Edge — was its third of the year. Marshall Wace and Steadfast Venture Capital, DST Global, Insight Partners and other participated in the round.

Related: Banknotes, Digital Payments up in India Five Years After Demonetization

Earlier this month, PYMNTS reported on the growth of digital payments across India, including the increased use of banknotes five years after country leaders demonetized banknotes of 500 and 1,000 rupees.

Digital payments via cards, net banking and the real-time payments system Unified Payments Interface increased, while banknotes accounted for the bulk of currency methods in the last year. RBI says the value of banknotes in circulation nearly doubled from Nov. 4, 2016, to Oct. 29, 2021.