Niro, a Homegrown Embedded Consumer Lending Fintech, Hires Industry Collections Veteran Narendran Prabhakaran from Sachin Bansal’s Navi

Narendran Prabhakaran

 

Niro, a homegrown embedded consumer lending Fintech, today announced the appointment of collections veteran Narendran Prabhakaran, ex-Collections Head at Navi as Head of Collections and Operations, as it scales its business. With this announcement, Niro becomes one of the only startups to invest in such key capabilities and multidisciplinary leaders early on in their growth journey. 

Niro brings Narendran on board to realize its vision of democratizing access to convenient and hassle-free embedded credit products for 600+ million internet users in India. Narendran P, who was Head of Collections at Navi and before that at MoneyTap, comes with 20+ years of experience across large financial services players and fintech, including 9 years at HDFC, 3 years at Bajaj Finance, 2 years at MoneyTap, and 1.5 years at Navi.

The company recently raised $3.5 Mn in a seed funding round led by Elevar Equity. The funding also saw participation from angel investors like Kunal Shah, Nitin Gupta, Bala Parthasarathy, the Patni Family Office, R. Ramaraj & Aseem Dhru.

On the appointment, Aditya Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO said, "We are at an exciting juncture in our journey where we are investing in key capabilities that take us closer to our vision. Narendran is a unique leader in the industry with collections experience across large banks and fintech, alike - and we are extremely excited to have him on board. As we grow, Narendran's valuable expertise will help us in driving scale aggressively while building out world-class risk-management capabilities, realizing our vision of transforming all customer-facing digital platforms into fintechs."

Narendran Prabhakaran, Head - Collections and Operations, Niro, said

Having spent over 20 years of my career building large-scale collections capabilities, I am thrilled to join the founding leadership team at Niro. Niro's plans to scale aggressively in partnership with leading consumer internet platforms, while ensuring world-class risk-management capabilities resonated deeply with me.

Before Navi, Narendran was the Collections Head at MoneyTap and prior to that was Regional Head - Collections at Bajaj Finserv and for 3 years. Prior to that, he spent almost a decade at HDFC Bank building collections teams across India. He has also worked with GE Money Bank, ICICI Bank, and GE Capital.

About Niro

Niro, launched in 2021, is a homegrown embedded consumer lending Fintech solution. It aims to empower consumer internet companies to become consumer lending superpowers. The vision of the start-up is to empower consumer internet platforms to become a provider of competitive, frictionless and innovative credit (and other financial) products for their consumers. By providing customized credit offerings, Niro empowers these platforms to drive engagement, create value, and in turn generate significant revenues. Founded by Aditya Kumar & Sankalp Mathur, it has raised $3.5 Mn from Elevar Equity in its seed funding round which will strengthen its aim of making competitive & frictionless credit accessible for everyone.

Niro, an Embedded Fintech Startup, Raises $3.5 Mn Seed Funding from Elevar Equity and Notable Angel Investors Including Kunal Shah

From left Aditya Kumar, Sankalp Mathur, co-founders of Niro

• Round led by Elevar Equity also saw participation from notable angel investors like Kunal Shah, Nitin Gupta, Bala Parthasarathy & others
• The investment will enable Niro to kickstart its vision of empowering consumer internet companies to become consumer lending Fintechs
• With Niro’s customized product offerings, consumer internet companies will now be able to supercharge revenues & engagement by becoming providers of competitive & frictionless credit products

Niro, a homegrown embedded consumer lending Fintech, has raised $3.5 Mn in a seed funding round led by Elevar Equity. The funding also saw participation from angel investors like Kunal Shah, Nitin Gupta, Bala Parthasarathy, the Patni Family Office, R. Ramaraj & Aseem Dhru. It is founded by entrepreneur-duo, Aditya Kumar (erstwhile founder of Qbera, a consumer lending platform acquired by InCred Financial Services), and Sankalp Mathur (a risk management professional and ex-Citibanker). The Fintech startup aims to disrupt the consumer lending ecosystem in the country by democratizing access to convenient and hassle-free embedded credit products for 624 million internet users in India.

It will achieve this by enabling consumer internet brands to offer competitive, seamlessly integrated, and innovative credit products. Niro will drive tangible and measurable impact for these brands and empower them to create new customer journeys, enhancing customer engagement and generating substantial revenue.

Aditya Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Niro, said, “At the core of large-scale transformations lies a single innovation. We believe that embedded finance is one such innovation, and Niro aims to leverage the power of embedded finance to unlock potential for all customer-facing digital platforms to become consumer lending fintechs. This will enable them to offer their consumers bespoke and competitive financial products combined with a frictionless all-in-one platform experience. We are ecstatic to have Elevar Equity, as well as marquee Angel investors as our partners in this journey to revolutionize the credit manufacturing and distribution ecosystem in India."

Sankalp Mathur, Co-Founder & Chief Risk Officer, Niro, said, "The embedded finance opportunity is growing exponentially and at Niro, we see this as an opportunity to redefine distribution for financial services entirely. In parallel, this creates an entirely new role for consumer internet companies to become financial services players in the lives of consumers. We are excited to enter the industry with the support of Elevar Equity, and look forward to empowering our partners to offer their consumers frictionless credit like never before".

Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity, said, “Elevar makes only 2-3 investments per year, on an average - we look for entrepreneurs with a deep focus on and understanding of the end customer, who can build highly differentiated, scalable distribution models. Aditya and Sankalp’s respective personal journeys towards understanding the challenges in the fintech lending space and their clarity to target a financially underserved market through a differentiated strategy instantly resonated with us. We are excited to support Niro in its quest to build a game changing venture that can redefine the mass accessibility of credit."

Nitin Gupta, Founder - Uni, Serial entrepreneur & Angel Investor, said, “The distribution of credit products is changing rapidly and being driven by embedded finance. Niro’s strong team is well-positioned to lead this revolution in India, and beyond.”

Aditya brings 16+ years of entrepreneurial and corporate experience in the financial services and FinTech industry and will lead the business as CEO. Sankalp Mathur, Chief Risk Officer, brings 18+ years of experience in the lending and the financial services industry, previously heading risk for leading Fintech players such as MoneyTap and KredX. Sankalp has also run the risk function for large portfolios at Citibank, Barclays, and HSBC.

About Niro

Niro, launched in 2021, is a homegrown embedded consumer lending Fintech solution. It aims to empower consumer internet companies to become consumer lending superpowers. The vision of the start-up is to empower consumer internet platforms to become a provider of competitive, frictionless and innovative credit (and other financial) products for their consumers. By providing customized credit offerings, Niro empowers these platforms to drive engagement, create value, and in turn generate significant revenues. Founded by Aditya Kumar & Sankalp Mathur, it has raised $3.5 Mn from Elevar Equity in its seed funding round which will strengthen its aim of making competitive & frictionless credit accessible for everyone.