Credit platform Simpl raises $40 mn in Series B financing

By Tarush Bhalla

  • 01 Dec 2021
Credit: 123RF.com

Consumer credit provider, Simpl, has raised $40 million as a part of its Series B round, led by Valar Ventures and IA Ventures, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.   

Existing investors along with new investor LFH Ventures participated in the round. With this, the total equity capital raised by Simpl stands at roughly $83 million. 

Five-year old, Simpl provides customers easy credit through its ‘Pay Later’ solutions with all

purchases across retailers on the network aggregated into one bill that can be repaid once

every 15 days.

This year, Simpl released two new features including ‘Bill Box’ and ‘Pay-in-3’, allowing users to manage recurring payments as well as pay for products in three equal monthly payments.  

“Online checkout is built on a fragmented payment value chain that was created 60 years ago

and has left the native-to-mobile retailers and consumers underserved. We built a fullstack checkout platform that gives merchants ultimate control of user experience and helps them build trust with consumers at checkout. Simpl is like a Khata or a Tab for online commerce,” said Nitya Sharma, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Simpl. 

Over the past 18 months, Simpl claims to have grown its monthly active merchants and its monthly active users by ten-fold. The company did not disclose the exact figures.  

“Simpl built the first payments network we’ve seen that treats small and medium merchants as

true partners. It offers the BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later), fast checkout and anti-fraud features that merchants need to compete in today's market, at a transparent, fair price. We're excited to see Simpl bring a new generation of consumers and commerce companies online in India, on a level playing field with incumbents,” said Jesse Beyroutey, partner at IA Ventures.

Currently, Simpl works with over 7,000 online merchants including Zomato, Makemytrip, Big Basket, Jio Platform,1MG and Crocs, among others.  

“India’s e-commerce market is at an inflection point and we believe Simpl’s solution is a key

enabler in accelerating adoption of digital payments in e-commerce.The team has shown great execution and we are excited to join their mission of democratizing e-commerce for all merchants big and small,”  said James Fitzgerald, partner at Valar Ventures.

At present, 60% of all e-commerce transactions are still done with the ‘Cash on Delivery’ option with only 5% of the addressable market having a credit card, according to the company’s estimates.