Kiwi Secures $24 Million in Series B Funding Round

Kiwi, a virtual credit card startup, has successfully acquired $24 million, equivalent to Rs 208.5 crore, during its Series B funding round. Vertex Ventures led this investment, with support from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Omidyar Network. Although the Bengaluru-based company did not reveal crucial information regarding its post-money valuation and shareholding structure, Startup Superb has examined regulatory filings to highlight these important details.

The board at Kiwi approved a special resolution to issue 20,251 Series B compulsory convertible preference shares, each priced at Rs 1,02,955, to raise the stated amount. Vertex Ventures contributed Rs 113.2 crore ($13 million) to this funding round, followed by investments from Nexus Venture Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Omidyar Network, which contributed Rs 47.5 crore ($5.45 million), Rs 34.9 crore ($4 million), and Rs 12.83 crore, respectively.

Kiwi’s Valuation and Ownership Structure

Startup Superb estimates that Kiwi’s valuation experienced a remarkable increase of 64%, reaching Rs 870 crore or $100 million, compared to Rs 531 crore ($64 million) during its Series A funding round. In addition to this fresh funding, the Nexus Venture-backed company has augmented its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) pool by introducing 2,582 new options, bringing the total to 7,008. Consequently, the overall value of the ESOP now approximates Rs 72 crore ($8.3 million).

According to various sources from a startup data intelligence platform, Kiwi has successfully raised around $43 million to date. Following the allocation of this funding round, Nexus Venture Partners possesses the largest stake at 21.06%, while Stellaris holds 15.47%. New investor Vertex Ventures claims a 13% stake, while co-founders Siddharth Mehta, Anup Kumar Agrawal, and Mohit Bedi collectively maintain a 35.48% ownership.

About Kiwi’s Services

Launched in 2022, Kiwi provides an all-encompassing credit-on-UPI solution, allowing users to access credit through UPI via RuPay cards issued in collaboration with banks such as YES Bank and AU Small Finance Bank. The application also allows users to block cards, modify limits, process payments, and earn rewards for each transaction.

In FY25, Kiwi’s operational revenue remained static at Rs 3.83 crore, while its losses escalated over 2.5 times to Rs 64 crore during the same financial year.