Led · Equity · Jun 2022

Kissht is an Indian consumer lending fintech startup. It announced it has raised $80 million as part of a fresh funding round. The round was led by Vertex Growth and the Brunei Investment Agency. The company is entering the credit-backed card segment. The article does not provide operating metrics, deal terms, or additional investor names. No other financial details or past rounds are mentioned in the report. Kissht, operated by OnEMi Technology Solutions, provides instant lines of credit for small-business transactions and small-ticket personal loans using its proprietary data analytics 'Kissht score'. The company was founded in 2015 by Krishnan Vishwanathan and Ranvir Singh. Kissht plans to use new funding to deepen its presence across India, expand product offerings including credit cards for small-business shop owners, and improve underwriting using AI and machine learning to extend credit to first-time users. It targets transaction-linked credit volume of Rs 10,000 crore by 2022-23 and aims to serve 10 million unique borrowers. For 2021-22 (FY22) the company expects overall revenue to top Rs 500 crore and a profit before tax of Rs 50 crore. Kissht is an Indian digital lending platform. The company announced a $30 million Series C round. The round was led by Vertex Ventures SEA and India and Sistema Asia Fund. The article did not disclose additional investors or financing instruments beyond the Series C. No operating metrics, revenue, user counts, founding year or future plans were provided in the announcement. The reporting was based on an announcement from the company. Kissht is a digital lending platform. It operates in India. According to the article, the company has raised $10 million in a funding round. The round was led by Fosun RZ Capital with participation from Prophet Capital, Beijing and existing investors Ventureast and Endiya Partners. The article does not provide further details on product features, growth metrics, future plans, or use of proceeds. Kissht offers collateral-free consumer loans to finance purchases such as mobiles, laptops, jewellery and electronics. The company currently originates loans through its captive NBFC, using that vehicle as a proof-of-concept to innovate on consumer loan disbursements. KYC is performed by linking customers' Aadhaar numbers on the app and validating via an OTP sent to the customer's mobile. Kissht is targeting at least 200 million urban Indians seeking small-ticket loans and competes with providers including Quicklo and Faircent. CEO Krishnan Vishwanathan said the company intends to become a data and analytics company enabling consumers to get loans from banks and NBFCs that partner with Kissht. Founded in 2015, the company has raised a total of $2.7M and is scouting for Series B funding.

Participated · Series C · Feb 2021

Pony.ai develops autonomous driving systems and partners with automakers to deploy vehicle autonomy. Founded in 2016 and based in the US and China, the company works with Toyota, GAC, SAIC Group, Sany Heavy Industry and FAW Group. Pony.ai has registered with the China Securities Regulatory Commission for a US IPO and plans to issue up to 98.15 million ordinary shares on Nasdaq or the NYSE. Its most recently disclosed financing was a $100M investment from Neom in October 2023; the post‑money valuation from that round was undisclosed. The firm was valued at $8.5 billion after its March 2022 Series D. GAC's recent board approval to invest $27M in Pony.ai (part of a combined $104.8M allocation to Pony.ai and Chenzhi) indicates continued strategic interest from Chinese automakers. Pony.ai is a Chinese autonomous vehicle startup that develops autonomous driving technology. The company operates fully driverless vehicles in Beijing and Guangzhou and holds licenses to operate driverless cars in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Pony.ai plans to establish a regional R&D and manufacturing headquarters as part of a joint venture with Neom. Under the JV, Pony.ai and Neom will develop, manufacture and deploy autonomous vehicles and smart infrastructure in Neom and key markets in the Middle East and North Africa. Pony.ai received $100 million from Neom as part of the deal. The tie-up comes amid increasing cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Chinese companies around technology and scientific innovation. Pony.ai develops autonomous-driving software and a robotaxi network platform to deploy fully driverless robotaxis. The company plans to scale commercial robotaxi operations in China through a partnership with Toyota and a capital infusion. Toyota will supply an unspecified number of EVs and Pony.ai will outfit them with its autonomy stack and network technology. Pony.ai has raised more than $1 billion since its 2016 founding and claimed an $8.5 billion valuation in 2022. The company has faced regulatory and operational setbacks, including a suspended California driverless testing permit, a software recall, executive departures, and litigation over alleged trade‑secret theft. Despite those challenges, Pony.ai and Toyota intend to begin their partnership this year to accelerate production of driverless robotaxis. Pony.ai develops autonomous driving systems for robotaxis and trucking, operating tests and limited passenger pilots in both China and the U.S. The company was founded in 2016 and now has a global team of over 1,000 staff. Pony runs tests in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as well as Fremont and Irvine, California, and its robotaxis have been allowed to charge passengers in a pilot zone in suburban Beijing. The firm has faced operational and regulatory setbacks, including a suspended driverless test permit in California and a reorganization that dissolved its U.S. trucking unit. Financially, Pony said it is well‑financed and, after a Series D-1, has close to $1 billion in balance sheet liquidity. Management says proceeds will be used to expand hiring, open new testing and operation sites, advance strategic partnerships and rapidly grow its fleet. Pony.ai develops a full-stack autonomous driving platform (PonyAlpha) that uses lidars, radars, and cameras to detect obstacles up to 200 meters for robo-taxis, trucks, and freight delivery. The company has tested its systems since April 2019 and runs test vehicles in Fremont, California and Beijing and Guangzhou in China. Pony.ai aims to deploy level 4 vehicles in predictable environments—industrial parks, college campuses, and small towns—with a tentative deployment window of several years. It has driven over 1.5 million autonomous kilometers as of year-end 2019 and delivered more than 15,000 packages in California during the COVID-19 crisis. Pony.ai holds an autonomous vehicle testing license in Beijing and a robo-taxi operations permit from the California Public Utilities Commission. It maintains partnerships and pilots with Via and Hyundai (BotRide), Bosch (fleet maintenance), FAW and GAC Group (vehicle development), and On Semiconductor (machine vision).