Bengaluru-based online lending startup Capital Float has acquired Pune-based personal finance management startup Walnut for around ₹210 crores ($30 million) in a cash-and-stock deal. This acquisition is expected to strengthen its new consumer lending business.
After the acquisition, Walnut’s founders Patanjali Somayaji and Amit Bhor will join the leadership team of Capital Float, along with 35 other employees.
Talking about the acquisition, Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, co-founders of Capital Float, said, “We’re excited to collaborate with Walnut, an accomplished member of the Fintech ecosystem. Our sensibilities and objectives aligned with theirs, which largely paved the way for our decision to join hands with the company. We were extremely impressed with the team and the product Patan and Amit have built. Walnut Prime is a product of deep interest to us, and it will essentially become a new addition to our stable of exceptional, customized credit products.”
Walnut was founded in 2014, in order to help its users manage their finance seamlessly. It is available on both Android and iOS devices. The various features included in the app include bill splitting among friends, tracking expenses, money transfer to friends, credit card payments, bank balance updates, among other features.
Walnut claims to have more than 7 million app downloads and around 1 million monthly active users, along with 300,00 daily active users.
Capital Float is looking to leverage Walnut’s credit assessment model, that captures data from alternative sources like income and purchase capacity, to extend the line of credit to new users.
Walnut has already approved a credit line of around ₹100 crores, Capital Float will be looking to boost those numbers for the startup.
Capital Float is also looking to increase its total asset under management from ₹1,300 to ₹5,000 crores within a year, along with growing its customer base from 125,000 to 500,000.
Walnut will also be able to leverage Capital Float’s network across 100 cities, to expand its outreach from the existing 8 cities.