Chinese smartphone and electronics company Xiaomi is in talks to pick up a stake in financial technology startup Zest-Money, according to newspaper reports. Zest money offers cardless EMI-loans for products on Xiaomi’s online portal Mi.com.
ZestMoney is in talks to raise about $20 million. This round of funding may see participation from the startup’s existing investors, according to the report. ZestMoney also has partnerships with e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, and MakeMyTrip as well as other companies such as Cuemath and UpGrad to offer EMI options on a range of products. It’s investors include Ribbit Capital, PayU.
Xiaomi already has one investment in the fintech space in India. Xiaomi and Shunwei Capital, the venture capital firm started by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, led an $8-million round in Bengaluru-based KrazyBee in October last year.
In 2016, Xiaomi led a $25-million round of funding in online entertainment company Hungama Digital Media Entertainment to introduce local content on its devices.
According to a recent report by Counterpoint Research, not only was Xiaomi the market leader among smartphone brands in online shipments, Mi.com also emerged as the third-largest e-commerce site in smartphone sales after Flipkart and Amazon.