EXCLUSIVE – German online lender Kreditech is making its way to India, Bank Innovation has learned.

For this expedition, the fintech has teamed up with SaaS banking platform Mambu for providing short-term lending products specifically tailored to local consumers.

Kreditech’s entry into the Indian market comes because of payment processor PayU’s involvement in the company last year, when the Holland-based PayU invested EUR 110 million ($132.4 million) in Kreditech in May last year, becoming a major shareholder.

As Kreditech COO, Oliver Prill, COO, explained to Bank Innovation in an email:

PayU is the leading Payment Services Provider (PSP) in India and for them offering credit as a payment option [to merchants] is a key priority…To start with Kreditech will be financing e-commerce transactions with merchant for whom PayU acts as a Payment Service Provide (PSP).

The loan product is expected to go live in the first quarter of 2018. All data that Kreditech will use for its ML-based underwriting process will be hosted by AWS India.

Kreditech declined to provide a loan range. PayU declined to comment on the announcement altogether. 

As for Mambu, in an email to Bank Innovation, Mambu CEO Eugene Danilkis said:

Fintechs like Kreditech excel at building a great user experience, tailored products, modern marketing and smart credit decisioning as well as pricing based on market needs. Mambu’s solution is very complementary in achieving this strategy…. We’re looking to expanding our relationship with Kreditech internationally.

Kreditech currently operates in Europe and Latin America.

To learn more about digital lending and Indian fintechs join us on March 5-6, 2018 at the Parc 55 in San Francisco for Bank Innovation 2018. Click here to request an invitation.