Synopsis
Digital lending firm Kissht debuted on the BSE at a premium. The company's shares opened at Rs 191, climbing to Rs 208 by market close. This listing values Kissht at Rs 3,511 crore. Early investors are realizing significant gains on their stakes. Kissht has shown strong growth in assets under management and revenue.Vertex Ventures, Endiya Partners, and Ventureast — among the company’s early backers — sold part of their holdings at a premium through the OFS (offer for sale) route of the IPO, and are sitting on significant paper gains on their remaining stake. Others who sold their shares likewise are Ammar Sdn Bhd, and Aion Advisory. While Ammar Sdn sold 1.1 million shares, Vertex sold around 1.6 million, and Ventureast around 700,000 shares.
Their weighted average cost of acquisition of the shares stood between Rs 79 to Rs 124, according to disclosures made by the company in its red herring prospectus (RHP).
Even at the listing price of Rs 191, all the investors stand to have gained significantly from their bet on the company. Kissht had raised around $133 million prior to the IPO.
The company’s public issue was open for subscription from April 30 to May 5, with a price band of Rs 162-171 and a minimum investment of Rs 14,094 for a lot of 87 shares.
“At Endiya Partners, we wrote the first institutional cheque for Kissht in 2017, when mass-market digital lending was still at a very early stage,” said Sateesh Andra, managing director, Endiya Partners.
Founded in 2015 by former McKinsey executives Ranvir Singh and Krishnan Vishwanathan, Kissht started as a consumer lending platform focussed on checkout finance. It has since expanded into instant personal loans via both its own balance sheet and partnerships with around 38 lenders.
Ahead of its IPO, Kissht raised Rs 278 crore (around $30 million) from 22 anchor investors. The anchor round saw participation from a mix of domestic mutual funds and global institutional investors, including HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, WhiteOak Capital, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and BNP Paribas.
The company has witnessed rapid growth in recent years. Its assets under management (AUM) rose from around Rs 1,267 crore in FY23 to Rs 5,955 crore in the first nine months of FY26. Revenue from operations increased from Rs 984 crore to Rs 1,675 crore during the same period, while net profit rose to Rs 197 crore in the December quarter of FY26 from Rs 27.7 crore in FY23.
