KreditBee, a Bengaluru-based digital lender, said on 8 April 2026 that it had raised $280m in a Series E round at a post-money valuation of $1.5bn, taking it past the $1bn mark that defines a unicorn.
Motilal Oswal Alternates, Hornbill Capital and Dragon Funds, which is backed by Japan's MUFG, led the round. WhiteOak Capital and A.P. Moller Holding joined, along with existing investors Premji Invest and Advent International. The company called itself the first unicorn of India's 2026-27 financial year.
Not all of the money is new capital. According to MediaNama, about $220m was primary investment and about $60m was secondary, paid to existing shareholders selling part of their stakes. Inc42 put the total at about ₹2,595 crore.
“This fundraise marks an important milestone in our growth journey. The strong interest from new investors, along with continued participation from our existing investors reflects deep confidence in our business model and our mission to make credit accessible to millions of Indians.”Madhusudan E., Co-founder and CEO, KreditBee
What KreditBee does
Madhusudan Ekambaram, Karthikeyan Krishnaswamy and Vivek Veda founded KreditBee in 2016. It lends through its own non-bank finance company, KrazyBee Services, which is registered with the Reserve Bank of India, and through co-lending agreements with more than 10 financial institutions.
It offers personal loans, business loans, loans against property and two-wheeler loans, as well as credit reports and UPI payment services. The company says its customers are mostly young salaried and self-employed professionals.
KreditBee reported more than 230 million app downloads, more than 18 million unique loan customers and more than 60 million loans disbursed. Its assets under management stood at $1.5bn at the end of March 2026, the company said. It says it has customers in metro areas as well as smaller tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
What the money is for
The company said the new capital would go towards growing its loan book, expanding in key markets and strengthening its technology platform. It plans to make more use of AI in risk assessment and to offer more personalised products.
Chief executive Madhusudan E. said the company was building AI into the core of its lending systems to improve underwriting accuracy and risk controls and to speed up the customer experience.
Preparing for a listing
KreditBee described the round as coming ahead of possible public-market plans. MediaNama reported that the Series E is expected to be its last private round before an initial public offering, and that the company has already moved its domicile from Singapore to India. It is waiting for regulatory approval to merge its technology company with its NBFC before starting the IPO process, according to the same report. Inc42 reported that KreditBee's board approved converting the company into a public entity in 2025.
The company was last valued at about $700m to $800m in 2023, MediaNama reported. In the year to March 2025 its profit rose to ₹237 crore (about $26m) from ₹126.4 crore, according to MediaNama.
Other Indian digital lenders, including Fibe, Moneyview and Kissht, are also preparing to list, MediaNama noted.
The investors
KreditBee lists a long group of backers, including Premji Invest, Motilal Oswal Alternates, Advent International, TPG NewQuest, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Hornbill Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investments, A.P. Moller Holding, Unitary Funds, WhiteOak Capital and ICICI Bank.
Inc42 reported that the company has raised about $642m to date, and counted it as the second Indian start-up to become a unicorn in 2026, after Juspay. Inc42's report for the first quarter of 2026 found that Indian fintech start-ups raised $374m across 24 deals in that period.
Company website: kreditbee.in