Credit information provider Experian said it has made a strategic investment in smart data platform for mobile marketing Vserv Digital Services Pvt. Ltd.
Sathya Kalyanasundaram, country head and managing director at Experian India, said in a statement that Vserv's mobile marketing platform and access to authentic telecom datasets ensures immediate synergies to our core product propositions.
The partnership will also help Experian to boost its in-house analytics capabilities and financial inclusion by enabling a smooth digital on-boarding to its consumers, he added.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Dippak Khurana, co-founder and chief executive officer at Vserv, said the firm will focus on rolling out smart products for the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector across the marketing stack as their key business partner.
Currently, one of the biggest challenges faced by the BFSI sector in India is the lack of information on customers as over 45% of the country's population does not have access to credit, the statement added.
Vserv’s strategic tie-up with Experian will help the BFSI sector to reach out to specific consumers.
Vserv, which was founded in 2010, raised angel funding in 2011. In the same year, it got institutional backing from Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India). In 2013, Epiphany Venture Fund came in as a new investor. Subsequently in 2015, it raised $15 million (Rs 91 crore) from hedge fund Maverick Capital Ventures and Chiratae Ventures.
Last year, VCCircle reported that Maverick Capital acquired additional stake to become a majority shareholder in Vserv by buying Chiratae Ventures' stake.
Experian India was one of the first credit bureaus to start operations in India. Its parent Experian Plc sold 51% stake in Experian India to the seven local Indian partners -- Axis Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Federal Bank, Punjab National Bank, Sundaram Finance Ltd and Magma Fincorp Ltd -- in 2009.
At present, Experian has records of over 940 million unique loans in India.
In 2017, Axis Bank signed an agreement to sell its entire 10% stake in Experian India. Earlier this year, Punjab National Bank also intimated that it sold its entire stake of 4.2 million unlisted equity shares in Experian India.
