Virtual Credit Card Startup Kiwi in Talks to Raise $23 Mn Series B Funding Led by Vertex Ventures
- ByStartupStory | August 21, 2025
Fintech startup Kiwi, which offers virtual RuPay credit cards linked to UPI, is set to raise around $23 million in a fresh Series B funding round, according to people aware of the matter. The new round comes nearly two years after the company’s last fundraise.
Vertex Ventures is reportedly leading the investment with a term sheet already issued, while existing backers Stellaris Venture Partners and Nexus Venture Partners are also expected to participate. The funding could value Kiwi at over $100 million (post-money), marking a significant step-up from its previous valuation of $65 million during its $13 million Series A round in November 2023.
Founded in 2022 by Anup Agrawal (former Freecharge executive) along with Mohit Bedi and Siddharth Mehta, Kiwi has built a niche by enabling UPI payments via virtual RuPay credit cards. The company has partnered with Axis Bank and is integrated with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) framework to promote the adoption of credit on UPI, a feature rolled out in 2022.
Unlike traditional credit cards, Kiwi provides a virtual RuPay card that seamlessly links with popular UPI apps such as Google Pay and PhonePe, making credit usage in digital payments more accessible and convenient. The startup competes with other credit-led fintech players like Slice, OneCard, and Uni.
Investor appetite in Kiwi reflects the wider industry momentum, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and NPCI encouraging banks and fintechs to experiment with products that bring credit options into everyday UPI usage.
Kiwi claims to be the first startup to launch credit on UPI with a full-stack solution, strengthening its positioning in a rapidly evolving digital payments space. According to data from TheKredible, as of the Series A round, co-founders Siddharth Mehta, Anup Agrawal, and Mohit Bedi each held 16.2% equity, while Nexus Venture Partners was the largest external shareholder.
While Kiwi declined to comment on the development, sources suggest that the deal is in advanced stages. Queries sent to Vertex Ventures, Omidyar Network, Nexus VP, and Stellaris VP did not elicit a response at the time of publishing.
If successfully concluded, this round would put Kiwi among the fast-scaling fintech startups tapping into India’s booming credit-on-UPI ecosystem an innovation that has already begun reshaping the future of digital payments.
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