Online lending platform Kissht has appointed Alok Bansal, co-founder of PB Fintech Ltd, and Sangeeta Pendurkar, chief executive of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd, as independent directors on its board ahead of its public market listing. The startup has filed for conversion to a public limited company and plans to submit its draft red herring prospectus for an initial public offering by the end of July, two people with direct knowledge of the development told Mint. “The company is also in talks to onboard more independent directors, particularly those with banking or finance backgrounds,” one of them said. Kissht is working with JM Financial, SBI Capital Markets Ltd, and two other bankers to lead the IPO, the second person said. The company had explored other bankers earlier but the talks fell through. Mint was the first to report on Kissht’s plans to file pre-IPO documents to raise about $225 million. Kissht did not reply to queries emailed on Monday. JM Financial and SBI Capital Markets did not immediately reply to Mint’s queries.Also Read | Inside India’s SME IPO boom—and why it’s getting riskier Kissht’s IPO is closely watched because of its business model. Founded in 2015 by Ranvir Singh and Krishnan Vishwanathan, the fintech startup offers unsecured loans across three segments: consumption lending, purchase financing (including via partnerships with Amazon and Flipkart), and credit for micro, small and medium enterprises. In 2022, Kissht raised about $80 million from Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency at a valuation of roughly $344 million.Kissht’s plan for a public market listing comes amid hesitation in India’s IPO pipeline. Other digital lenders including Navi, Moneyview, and KreditBee had appointed bankers in 2023 and 2024 for an IPO but delayed the process owing to regulatory scrutiny and heightened market volatility. Public market sentiment, however, appears to be stabilizing. In recent weeks, home and furnishings company Wakefit, fintech startup Pine Labs, and Curefoods India have filed DRHPs with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Navi, Moneyview, and KreditBee, too, have revived their IPO plans. During the June derivatives series, India VIX, a gauge of market volatility, dropped from 24.18 to 14.15, indicating greater stability.Also Read | Shades of grey: Inside the world of pre-IPO trading IPOs in the unsecured lending space will especially be closely watched given the regulatory caution around such models, a factor that has impacted private funding and valuations for companies in this space. Over the past year, the Reserve Bank of India has tightened oversight of digital lenders, with fresh guidelines for first-loss default guarantees, co-lending partnerships, and peer-to-peer lending, among others. 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Kissht appoints a co-founder of PB Fintech and the CEO of AB Fashion to its board in preparation for its initial public offering (IPO).
