Amazon to acquire Indian fintech Axio in credit push

Amazon has agreed to acquire Indian buy now pay later startup Axio, deepening its push into financial services in one of its fastest-growing markets as it seeks to expand credit access to millions of underserved customers.

The US technology group, which has held an equity stake in Axio for six years, signed the acquisition agreement in December after completing due diligence, the Indian startup said in a blog post.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the matter said the matter told TechCrunch that the size of the deal is over $150 million. The deal requires approval from the Indian central bank.

The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, formerly known as Capital Float, raised $232 million from investors including Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, Elevation Capital against equity and debt over the years.

The startup, which specializes in providing small-sized credit to self-employed individuals and households at the point of sale on major e-commerce platforms including Amazon and MakeMyTrip, said it serves more than 10 million customers and has built a loan book of over $260 million.

Axio is among a group of Indian startups that operates in a market where traditional credit access remains limited – India has low credit card penetration, and conventional banks often find small-ticket loans unprofitable.

The startup attempted to address this gap by building a regulated lending platform that can assess creditworthiness rapidly, making credit decisions “within two clicks and five seconds.”

But like many other startups in the category, Axio has also struggled to maintain its growth. Goldman Sachs-backed ZestMoney, which operates in a similar space and was once valued at $450 million, also struggled and eventually was picked by a traditional firm in a fire sale.

Axio is the second startup Amazon has acquired in India, where it has deployed more than $10 billion to date. Amazon acquired on-demand video streaming service MX Player in June last year.