Kissht, an online lending platform, is preparing to tap the capital markets with an initial public offering and has hired investment bankers for the process, two people aware of the development told Mint.

The company hired ICICI Securities, UBS Securities India Private Limited and Motilal Oswal Investment Banking and is finalising a fourth banker, one person said. Kissht is likely to file pre-IPO documents with the regulator by June, planning to raise $225 million ( ₹1,926 crore), the person added.

“The IPO will be a mix of primary and secondary share sales, with 75% expected to be primary capital raised to fund growth and new business lines," the person said, requesting anonymity.

Kissht is looking at a valuation of $900 million to $1.1 billion for its public listing, the second person said. Kissht previously raised funding of about $80 million in 2022, at a valuation of about $344 million, from Vertex Growth and Brunei Investment Agency.

Founded by Ranvir Singh and Krishnan Vishwanathan in 2015, Kissht’s business model is centred on unsecured consumer lending comprising three verticals — consumption loans, purchase financing (including e-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart), and MSME and business-owner loans.

The first and third segments together account for almost 85% of the business, while purchase financing contributes about 15%, the person said. The company recently entered the secured lending space with its loans against property (LAP) business.

Pre-IPO round

Kissht also plans a pre-IPO private funding round after it files the draft red herring prospectus, the first person added.

“The funds from the IPO and pre-IPO round will primarily be used to expand the loan book and invest in technology infrastructure," he said. “A significant portion of the proceeds will also be allocated to growing the company’s newly launched loans against property business – secured lending segment," the person said.

Kissht said earlier it expects the new business to contribute 12-14% of its overall loan book this year.

The company did not respond to queries from Mint. Emails sent to ICICI Securities and UBS Investment Banking did not elicit a response at the time of publishing the story. Motilal Oswal declined to comment.

On a consolidated basis, Kissht reported a 54 percent growth in disbursements to ₹18,527 crore in FY24 from the previous year, credit rating firm Crisil said.

This led to an increase in assets under management to ₹2,669 crore, up from ₹1,319 crore the year before. It reported a consolidated net profit (provisional) of ₹202 crore, a 3.4x jump from FY23, on a total income of ₹1,700 crore in FY24, as per Crisil.