Fibe debuts ecommerce financing with Flipkart partnership

Consumer lending platform Fibe has partnered with Flipkart to offer buy-now, pay-later financing on the ecommerce marketplace.

Under the arrangement, Fibe's BNPL option is now available at Flipkart's checkout, allowing eligible customers to split purchases of up to Rs 1 lakh into equated monthly instalments with repayment tenures ranging from three to 12 months, the company said on Wednesday.

The Flipkart partnership marks Fibe's attempt to carve out a niche in consumer lending for ecommerce, a segment long dominated by banks through credit cards and larger nonbank lenders such as Bajaj Finance. Fibe has previously offered BNPL products across sectors such as healthcare and education, making this its first foray into embeded ecommerce financing.

Another NBFC, Axio, was among the earlier fintech-led entrants to scale checkout financing on large ecommerce platforms. Formerly known as Capital Float, the company focused on embedding short-term credit directly at the point of checkout across platforms including Amazon, Decathlon and Xiaomi, rather than distributing loans through a standalone consumer app, which has been Fibe's strategy so far.

Axio’s partnership with Amazon culminated in the US ecommerce giant acquiring the Indian buy-now, pay-later lender in a deal valued at between $150 million and $200 million.

“This partnership allows us to integrate our consumer financing offering into an ecommerce checkout experience. Working with Flipkart aligns with our focus on building technology-led credit solutions for everyday use cases.” Said Akshay Mehrotra, MD & Group CEO, Fibe.

Last month in December, Fibe raised $35 million from the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, as part of its Series F funding round to strengthen its balance sheet and support portfolio expansion.

The Pune-based fintech, which focuses on consumer lending for middle-income households, said it has facilitated more than 9 million loans to date. It also gives impact-linked financing for healthcare and education.

Founded in 2015, Fibe has raised more than $266 million in equity, including secondaries, and counts TPG’s The Rise Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, TR Capital, Piramal Finance Ltd. and Chiratae Ventures among its investors. The company said it has been profitable for four consecutive years and operates in more than 940 cities.