E-lender Capital Float acquires Pune-based Walnut
21 Aug 2018
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Digital lender Capital Float has acquired Pune-based Walnut (Thumbworks Technologies Pvt Ltd), makers of a personal financial management app, for around Rs200 crore ($30 million).
The acquisition follows shortly after Capital Float’s foray into the consumer finance vertical, emphasising a strong strategic focus on leveraging this lucrative borrower segment.
Walnut is a personal finance management mobile app that helps users to manage their finances such as track spends, bank and card balances, bill payments, and split expenses within a group. Walnut has over 7 million downloads on the Play Store, an average rating of 4.4/5 and is featured in Google Editor’s Choice list of Top 5 Financial applications.
“Our sensibilities and objectives aligned with that of Walnut’s, which largely paved the way for our decision to join hands with the company. Their approach towards leveraging technology to solve financial concerns of the common individual was particularly impressive, and we eagerly look forward to working closely with them. Walnut Prime is a product of deep interest to us, and it will essentially become a new addition to our stable of exceptional, customized credit products, said Sashank Rishyasringa, a co-founder at Capital Float.
In July 2017, Walnut launched ‘Walnut Prime’, an instant credit line that users can access on the app.
This small ticket app-based credit line is centred on Walnut’s ‘Prime Credit Score’. While a traditional bureau score is derived basis existing loan and credit card repayment behaviour, the Prime Credit Score takes into consideration an alternate data range that includes one’s income, purchase behaviour, earning capacity and security savings.
The data range also incorporates newer forms of consumption such as e-commerce, wallet, shopping, food and bills among others. Walnut recently crossed Rs 100 crore in loans to users on its mobile app.
“Since we launched Walnut, we have been focused on simplifying personal finance for our users. We’re excited to partner with Capital Float as we aim to exponentially grow and bring Walnut and its intuitive features to millions of more Indians. We believe having Capital Float on our side opens up an immense set of opportunities by leveraging their strength in online lending and financial products with our innovative approach to consumer experiences,” said Patanjali Somayajia, a co-founder of Walnut.
Founded in 2013, Capital Float is the trade name for Capfloat Financial Services Private Limited (formerly known as Zen Lefin Private Limited), a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank of India.
The company has raised funding from marquee investors such as SAIF Partners, Sequoia India, Aspada Investments, Creation Investments Capital Management LLC, Ribbit Capital, and Amazon. Capital Float is headquartered in Bangalore, with offices in Mumbai, Delhi NCR and other cities.
