Kiwi appoints Sumeet Basrani as new CBO to scale credit-on-UPI business

This article is adapted from Business Standard

Fintech platform Kiwi has appointed Sumeet Basrani as chief business officer (CBO), strengthening its leadership team as it scales its credit-on-UPI offering.

Basrani brings over 15 years of experience across cards and payments, having previously worked with organisations such as Cred, OneCard, ICICI Bank, and Visa. In his previous role at Cred, he was responsible for building and scaling the company’s partnerships across credit cards, payments, and lending with banks and financial institutions. 

Kiwi said that the next phase of growth for the company will focus on expanding the market by enabling access to credit on UPI. 

“This is a natural next step for us. As we grow, it becomes important to have leadership that can translate market shifts into clear business and product decisions. Sumeet understands how banks, networks, and consumer platforms intersect — which is exactly where Kiwi is building. His experience in scaling businesses will be critical as we take credit on UPI to a much larger audience,” said Siddharth Mehta, co-founder, Kiwi.

“Credit on UPI is at an inflection point; early adoption is visible, but the real opportunity lies in embedding credit seamlessly into everyday payments, while expanding access to credit. Kiwi is well-positioned to lead this shift, and the next phase will be about scaling distribution and unlocking new use cases for credit,” Basrani said.

Kiwi claims to have issued more than two lakh credit cards through its platform in partnership with lenders.

The company raised $24 million in a Series B funding round, led by Vertex Ventures South East Asia & India, last year. The round also saw participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Omidyar Network.

It is targeting profitability in two years, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Anup Agrawal told Business Standard last year.

Kiwi had raised $13 million in a Series A funding round in November 2023. With this round, the company has mopped up a total of $43 million.

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