Consumer credit provider Cashe has forayed into wealth management with the acquisition of Gurugram-based investment platform Sqrrl Fintech in an all-cash deal. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals.
This follows Cashe’s Rs 140-crore equity funding in January from its Singapore-based holding company TSLC Pte Ltd, during which the company announced its plan to enter the wealth management space.
As a part of the deal, Sqrrl’s 10-member team will be joining Cashe, with the founders joining the senior leadership of the digital lender.
With the acquisition, Cashe will provide mutual funds, fixed deposits and other investment options to its customers. Sqrrl will retain its identity and operate as an independent platform.
Founded in 2016, Cashe provides digital lending products including personal loans, a credit line and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services to customers. It claims it has 20 million customers and that it disburses Rs 200-220 crore in loans every month.
“A big part of our plan is to broaden our offerings to cover investment and insurance products. Our last fund raise was for this expansion as well. But what’s important is that with the Sqrrl acquisition, we get a wealth-tech platform that lets our customers save and invest now… Sqrrl was the right fit since we saw the opportunity to scale it, as compared to other wealth-tech players which are well-funded,” said V Raman Kumar, founder and chairman at Cashe.
Founded in 2017, Sqrrl is a ‘goal-based’ investment platform. It has a roughly Rs 80-100 crore in assets under management (AUM), over 500,000 app downloads, and customers in over 600 Indian cities.
It claims its gives users to access over 5,000 mutual fund schemes across 28 mutual fund houses.
After the acquisition, Cashe will look to scale Sqrrl’s loan book to Rs 1,000 crore by the end of the year.
“We are delighted to join Cashe… This move will help the business scale up further by offering Sqrrl’s investment products to Cashe’s massive customer base with just a few clicks. We will continue to focus on our strategy, centred around stable and sustainable growth in the wealth management business,” said Samant Sikka, cofounder of Sqrrl.
Cashe also plans to foray into credit card-based lending and is looking to disburse loans worth Rs 3,500 crore by the end of FY23.
Source: Economic Times